LYCOMING, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team led by as many as 21 points against Lycoming on Saturday en route to an 82-64 victory against the host Warriors at the Lycoming Tournament. The Fords went on a 26-9 run midway through the first half to open the game up and never looked back in the team's final non-conference contest of the season. Haverford was seemingly in command all afternoon and ended up leading for over 38 minutes of playing time.
Joe Scibelli was named to the all-tournament team after scoring 20 points and securing 15 rebounds for his eighth double-double in the Fords' first 12 games of the season. He now has 23 career double-doubles. However, it was far from a one-man show as four different players finished in double figures for the Fords. Joe Hartman just missed a double-double with 15 points and eight rebounds. Jesse Turkson scored 13 points off the bench, while Kahlil Garnes went for 10 more points less than 24 hours after reaching the 1,000 point milestone in his career.
The two sides traded points back-and-forth in the opening minutes. Nevertheless, it did not take the Fords long to take control of the game as Jack Cork's jumper in the paint gave Haverford a 7-6 lead with 16:52 remaining in the half and the Fords would not trail again. In fact, when Hartman followed that up with a triple on the next possession, Lycoming was within a single possession just once the rest of the afternoon.
Up by four – 22-18 – midway through the opening half, Haverford unleashed an 8-0 run which featured a pair of three pointers from Kyle Goldfarb and Turkson to push the Fords to their first double-digit lead of the game. Host Lycoming could not come any closer than seven points for the remainder of the half. Even when the Warriors did trim the deficit to single digits, the Fords answered with a 16-2 run to mark their largest lead of the afternoon. That run to blow the game wide open was capped with eight straight points from Scibelli. The Fords eventually went on to carry an 18 point advantage, 50-32, into the locker room.
Lycoming was not going to go away quietly on its home court, and the Warriors cut the deficit to single digits with 12:24 to play. The hosts eventually came within as few as five points, 69-64, with 4:44 left in regulation. However, Hartman stopped any further thoughts of a Lycoming comeback as he once again connected from distance on the ensuing possession and went on to score seven points in the final four-plus minutes. The Fords completed their victory with an exclamation point by closing the game on a 13-0 run.
Haverford raced out to its first half lead by shooting nearly 55 percent during the opening 20 minutes and shot over 45 percent from the field on the afternoon. The Fords also had better shooting outputs than Lycoming from beyond the arc and at the free throw line.
Half of Haverford's 32 field goals were assisted as Joe Wujciak and Jonathan Lang each dished out four helpers. Six different players came down with at least four rebounds on Saturday afternoon to help the Fords hold a 47-33 edge on the glass. Haverford had a strong overall game taking care of the ball as the Fords committed just six turnovers. The Fords also blocked seven shots, with Scibelli's five rejections leading the way.
With its attention now solely focused on the Centennial Conference for the rest of the regular season, men's basketball will travel to Dickinson this coming Tuesday for an 8 p.m. tip against the Red Devils. Haverford will open its home portion of the 2019 slate next Thursday with a 7 p.m. tip against McDaniel.