Men's Basketball Suffers First Setback at Rosemont, 85-69

Jesse Turkson
Jesse Turkson

HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team suffered its first setback of the season with an 85-69 loss against Rosemont Saturday afternoon. The Fords (2-1) ran down several of the Ravens' (1-3) runs throughout the afternoon before visiting Rosemont was able to hold off Haverford's final charge in the waning minutes.

Jesse Turkson led the Fords with a career-high 23 points as he was a very efficient 8-for-10 from the field, while adding a 7-of-9 day at the charity stripe to his totals. Joe Scibelli recorded his third straight double-double in as many games as the senior scored 13 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Joe Hartman knocked down a trio of triples during the opening half to give Haverford a lead and finished with 11 points. Rosemont's trio of double-figure scorers were led by Basil Thompson's 34 points.

In seemingly a game of cat and mouse that continued most of the afternoon, Rosemont raced out to a 15-4 lead just over six minutes into the contest. On the other side, the Fords became very good at running them down. A three-pointer from Joe Hartman started Haverford's first rally as the hosts knocked down five three-pointers over the next 4:16 of playing time.

All three of Hartman's three-pointers came during that span, while Scibelli also connected from distance to give Haverford a 21-19 lead with 8:59 showing in the opening half. Rosemont countered with a 12-0 run of its own to hold its second 11 point advantage of the contest, 32-21, with 6:19 to play before the half.

Making his collegiate debut on Saturday, Josh Love quickly got his feet under him as he converted a four-point play at the free throw line to jumpstart Haverford's next surge. Love also converted an old-fashioned three-point play just before the half to cut the Rosemont lead to three before the break, 38-35. Turkson, who scored 16 points of his points during the second half, begin to heat up down the stretch with four points of his own in the final two minutes of the opening period.

After Turkson's layup in the paint made the score 41-39 early in the second, the Ravens ran off nine straight points. With Haverford once again in catch-up mode, the Fords got points from four different players as they scored on four of their next five possessions. Turkson capped that scoring run which set the score at 54-51 with 11:17 remaining in regulation. However, Rosemont scored the next nine points. As the analogy goes, the mouse was able to escape with the cheese after that final run from the hosts. Turkson scored 10 of his points during the final nine minutes of regulation, but Thompson and Rosemont were up to the task for the remaining time in the Ravens' 85-69 victory.

Rosemont finished the game shooting nearly 57 percent from the field while making an additional 24 trips to the free throw line. On top of the three leading scorers, Jonathan Lang came off the bench to add eight points to Haverford's total. With major contributions from Hartman, Love, and Lang, the Fords outscored Rosemont's bench by a 28-13 margin. The Fords also forced Rosemont into 18 turnovers and held an 18-13 edge in points off of turnovers.

Men's basketball will look to get back in the win column next Tuesday when the team travels to Ursinus for its Centennial Conference opener. The men's game is slated for an 8 p.m. tip in Collegeville as Haverford's women will battle the Bears in a 6 p.m. start to the conference doubleheader.