Men's Basketball Puts the Fear in McDaniel, 89-64

HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team set new season highs in both field goal (56.7%) and three-point shooting (52.2%) percentage during a convincing 89-64 victory against McDaniel on Thursday night. The Fords hit 12 three-pointers as four different players knocked down multiple triples. Those 89 points also marked a season high for Haverford as the team recorded its highest offensive output against the Green Terror in program history and tied the 2004-05 Fords for largest margin of victory against McDaniel (won, 86-61 on Feb. 5, 2005).

Haverford's 36 points from beyond the arc tied for the fourth highest single-game total in program history. That total was the highest since the Fords also knocked down 12 three-pointers at Ursinus in 2016. Joe Scibelli was a very efficient 8-of-13 from the floor (4-of-5 from beyond the arc) as he led the Fords with 22 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. He was one of five players who finished in doubles figures as Jesse Turkson scored 14, Jonathan Lang had 11, and both Kyle Goldfarb and Jack Cork finished with 10 points.

The Fords shot over 53 percent from the field during the opening half, but still the Green Terror held a 44-40 lead heading into the halftime break. Haverford came out of the locker room with an even more efficient offensive set, shooting 60 percent from the field and 71 percent from distance, during the final 20 minutes. However, the Fords also carried that same intensity and focus to the defensive end of the floor and held the Green Terror to under 18 percent from the field and 15 percent from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes.

McDaniel did lead by as many as 10 points with just over four minutes to play in the first half and had the advantage stretched to seven with an old-fashioned three-point play to start the second half. Nevertheless, Haverford quickly erased that margin by scoring on three straight possessions to tie the game at 47-all. However, the host Fords were far from done as they held the Green Terror without a point for 8:26 of playing time. During that span, the Fords got a pair of threes from Goldfarb and an old-fashioned three-point play from Lang to cap an outstanding 23-0 run.

The Green Terror were never able to trim that deficit to single digits the rest of the game. Meanwhile, the Fords kept adding to their total as the 25 point margin at the final buzzer was also Haverford's largest lead of the night. Aided by that humongous run, Haverford outscored McDaniel by a 49-20 margin during the second half.

Aiding the stellar offensive night was some of the best ball movement the Fords had all season as 18 of the team's 34 field goals were assisted. Double figure scorers Turkson and Garnes led those efforts with four helpers each. It was also another strong night on the boards for the Fords as they held a commanding 42-26 margin on the glass. Nine different players came down with multiple rebounds in what turned out to be a solid team outing all around.

The Fords will look to continue their momentum at home this weekend as they welcome first-place Johns Hopkins to Gooding Arena on Saturday for a scheduled 3 p.m. tip. The men's Centennial Conference contest will be preceded by the women hosting McDaniel in a 1 p.m. start.