WESTMINSTER, Md. – The Haverford College men's basketball team came away with a key Centennial Conference victory Saturday afternoon, taking down host McDaniel College by a count of 77-68.
Entering the weekend the Fords (11-9, 8-6 CC) sat in sixth place within the league standings—one spot out of the five-team conference postseason tournament which begins Feb. 23—and behind third place McDaniel (11-10, 8-6).
Saturday's victory over the Green Terror earns the Fords a split of the season series and, more importantly, pushes Haverford into a fourth-place tie with McDaniel and Gettysburg College in the standings.
The win on the Green Terror's home court looked like it might come easy as Haverford built a 12-point lead late in a first half in which it never trailed before the hosts would rally to close within four, 35-31, at the break.
After Sam Permutt put the Fords up by six with the second half's first bucket, McDaniel stormed to its first lead of the game with a 7-0 run halted by a Cam Baker jumper for only the second lead change of the contest.
Neither team built an edge larger than three points over the next nine minutes and after four more lead changes the score sat knotted at 56-56 with 6:17 to play.
Ian Goldberg nailed a pair of three-pointers to start an 11-0 run by Haverford for an advantage that never dipped below eight over the remainder of the contest.
Goldberg finished with a game-high 26 points which included a 6-for-9 afternoon from beyond the arc. Permutt added 20 points in the offensive end and Brett Cohen chipped in with 14 more.
Though both Devon Lesniak and Cullen Murray-Kemp hit for 18 points for the Green Terror, the home team did not have a stellar afternoon from the floor shooting only 37 percent, including a 10-for-28 performance from behind the three-point line.
In contrast, the Fords were red-hot going 28-for-47 (64 percent) from the floor. Goldberg hit all six of Haverford's treys in the contest.
Haverford, winners of two in a row, will try to keep the late-season momentum going in its next game, another Centennial tilt this Wednesday night at 8 p.m. against visiting Ursinus College (9-12, 6-8) who defeated host Gettysburg Saturday afternoon.