HAVERFORD, Pa. – Sam Permutt's double-double helped lead the Haverford College men's basketball team to a 70-58 Centennial Conference victory Wednesday night over visiting Swarthmore College.
Four Fords reached double-figures in scoring led by Permutt's game-high 18 points. Doug Edelman added 13, Ian Goldberg chipped in with 12 while Bo Friddell scored 11.
Permutt also registered a game-high on the glass pulling down 14 rebounds. Edelman and Friddell each ripped down eight apiece as Haverford (5-10, 3-6 CC) out rebounded Swarthmore (3-13, 2-7 CC) by a 39-33 margin.
Ahead by five at the intermission the Fords extended their lead to 14 at the midpoint of the second half. Permutt scored 10 of the team's 20 points during that span.
At the 8:42 mark in the second, Haverford pushed out to a 54-40 advantage over the Garnet and from that point on until the final buzzer the lead swayed between nine and 13 points before finishing upon its eventual 12-point edge.
The opening 20 minutes were everything that's expected of a game between the two schools – raucous crowds, edgy play and, of course, a close contest.
Haverford struck first but the lead changed hands three times over the first three minutes of action. Tied at 10 apiece, Swarthmore broke out to a seven point lead at 21-14 and then again, 25-18, at the 6:28 mark but an 11-0 Haverford run erased the Garnet advantage.
Friddell sank a pair of free throws to cut into the lead then ripped down a Swarthmore miss on their next possession to get the crowd of nearly 700 rolling. He came down the floor and converted a shot from behind the three-point arc to cut into the lead again which further inflamed the pro-Haverford crowd.
After a Goldberg steal in the defensive end Joel Michel, perhaps feeling the positive energy from the Haverford throng in the stands, nailed a jumper from the left side to pull the Fords even at 25 with just over five minutes remaining.
With Swarthmore now unable to stop the bleeding, Permutt added a layup for the first Haverford lead since 2 minutes and 37 seconds into the game. Not done quite yet, Edelman swatted the ball away from a Garnet player and Permutt picked up the loose ball breaking free down the center of the court for a fast-break layup that pushed the home team into a 29-25 lead.
Swarthmore finally found a band-aid with a layup of their own but the Fords ripped it off with a Lekan O-Nicholson three pointer that beat the halftime buzzer causing another eruption from the partisan crowd.
Will Gates led the Garnet with 15 points while both Jordan Martinez and Matt Allen added 11 apiece in the losing effort.
For the game, the Fords shot 48 percent from the field while limiting Swarthmore to a 36 percent night. Haverford outscored the visitors 30-14 in the paint and scored 13 points off of 10 Garnet turnovers.
The win was the sixth in a row over Swarthmore by the Fords who will try to stay in the win column in their next outing, a 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon match-up in Gooding Arena against visiting Franklin & Marshall, the 11th-ranked team in the nation.
The Haverford victory also pushes the Fords' lead in the Hood Trophy standings against Swarthmore back to four, at 5.5-1.5.