CARLISLE, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team went toe-to-toe with Dickinson on Tuesday evening and was tied with the host Red Devils at 58-all after Jesse Turkson scored with 3:02 left in regulation time. However, it was ultimately Dickinson that used its home court advantage by scoring the final eight points in an eventual 66-58 Centennial Conference victory.
The back-and-forth contest saw the lead change hands on nine occasions and was knotted up 10 different times. Six of those lead changes and seven of those tied scores happened over the final 20 minutes of a thrilling contest. Haverford and Dickinson both scored 55 points from the field, but a tough night at the free throw line ended up hampering the Fords by the time the final whistle blew.
Joe Scibelli led Haverford with 21 points as six different players finished the contest with at least five points. The Fords' bench immensely aided that effort as it outscored the Red Devils by a 24-3 margin. Jonathan Lang led all of those scorers with nine points, while Jack Cork and Turkson finished with eight and seven points, respectively. Joe Wujciak (eight points) and Kahlil Garnes (five points) added to the offense from the starting five. However, that diverse attack was not enough to overcome four of Dickinson's five starters who finished in double figures.
Haverford held three-point leads following baskets from Turkson and Wujciak late in the first half, but the Red Devils ended up carrying a 32-27 led into the locker room. Dickinson continued its strong play after the intermission by scoring eight of the first 12 points in the second half. That allowed the Red Devils to hold their largest lead of the game, 40-31, with less than four minutes gone by in the second.
Undeterred, Haverford answered with an 8-0 run as Lang connected on back-to-back triples and Scibelli got into the paint to trim the deficit to a single point. Lang ended up hitting his first three shots from distance to account for his scoring total. Just like the final tied score, it was Turkson who knotted the game at 44-all with 10:54 remaining in regulation. Layups from Wujciak and Scibelli gave Haverford brief leads to follow that basket. However, the two sides continued to trade punches and the score went on to be tied five times from the 6:55 mark through Turkson's final points with 3:02 showing on the game clock.
The Fords had a couple of chances to take the lead during the final three minutes, but missed a jumper and saw the Red Devils come up with a steal that ultimately led to a Bryce Allen three-pointer with 1:40 left in regulation for the final go-ahead basket of the evening. Haverford tried valiantly to come back, but just could not get the friendly rolls inside the Kline Center as the Fords came up scoreless on their final six shots from the field.
As has become commonplace, Haverford held the advantage on the glass with a 38-34 advantage in rebounding. The Fords have now outrebounded their opponents in five straight games and 10 of the 13 contests overall this season. Turkson and Cork added to their impressive showings off the bench as both players tied for the team lead with eight rebounds. Scibelli also came down with seven boards. Haverford finished the game with the advantage in second chance points (15-6) and points in the paint (32-30).
In the midst of its second of two three-game weeks throughout this season, men's basketball will get a chance to quickly shake tonight's result as the Fords host McDaniel on Thursday. With only the men's team in action, that Centennial Conference contest is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip inside Gooding Arena. The Fords wrap up this week by hosting Johns Hopkins on Saturday.