LANCASTER, Pa. – Riding a three-game winning streak and enjoying the role of Cinderella, the Haverford College men's basketball team finally heard the clock strike midnight Satuday afternoon when 19th-ranked Franklin & Marshall College rallied to take a 71-62 win over the visiting Fords in the semifinal round of the Centennial Conference tournament.
The Fords (14-12) nabbed the early lead when Ian Goldberg's three-pointer put Haveford ahead, 3-2, for an advantage that would last more than 14 minutes.
The lead grew to 10, twice, over the nationally-ranked Dips (21-5) as opening half action wound towards the midway point of the period.
Slowly, F&M clawed back into the game eventually knotting things at 30-30 with 4:05 left before halftime. Twice the lead would change hands over the final minutes but it was the home team that scratched out a one-point edge heading into the break.
Haverford bounced back quickly in the opening moments of the second half, pushing out to a five-point lead, 44-39, after another Goldberg three-pointer at the 15:23 mark.
The Diplomats took charge of the game over the next five minutes, however, rallying with a 15-0 run that included a trio of three's at the end of the run.
The Fords were able to draw as close as three with just under four minutes remaining but F&M held the underdogs at arms length the rest of the way—hitting 10-of-12 free throws down the stretch—to finish with a hard-fought nine-point victory, earning a berth against Dickinson College in Sunday's championship game.
In what turned out to be his final collegiate game, the Fords' Sam Permutt led all players in scoring and on the glass with a 19 point, 11 rebound effort. The graduating senior got help in the offensive end from Cam Baker and Goldberg who each tallied 12 points in the loss.
Georgio Milligan led five Diplomats into double-figures with an 18-point afternoon.
Haverford out rebounded F&M, 26-21, and had a better day from the floor hitting 54 percent of its shots compared to the 48 percent that the hosts registered.
The pebble that cracked the slipper was likely the 18 Haverford turnovers in the contest. F&M scored 25 points off Fords miscues.
The 2010-11 season's 14 wins equals the three best marks by a team since an 18-win season in 1976-77. This season is also the fifth time in the past eight season's in which Haverford has qualified for the Centennial tournament.