ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team set out Wednesday night to complete the season sweep against Muhlenberg after an 80-77 win in November when the two teams met in Haverford. However, the Mules held serve on their own home court with an 82-69 victory in Wednesday's Centennial Conference battle. The Fords and Mules were tied at 61-all with 6:44 to play before a late Muhlenberg run salvaged a season split for the hosts.
Matt Sherman led a trio of Haverford players with double figure scoring totals as he scored 16 points and played all 40 minutes. Sherman has now scored 10 or more points in 10 of the last 11 games and 15 times overall this season. James Levine and Anthony Reyes also finished with 12 points on the evening for the Fords. Haverford kept Malique Killing, the NCAA's career active scoring leader, in check with nine points. However, four other Muhlenberg players erupted with 12 or more points. Nick Rindock led that group with a game-high 22 points in the Mules' win.
The two sides rubbed elbows evenly for the first five minutes, swapping the lead twice and having a knotted score on four different occasions. Haverford took its first lead of the night when Levine was fouled taking a three-pointer and calmly sank all three attempts at the line. On the next offensive trip, it was Sherman that got to the line and he went 2-for-2, putting Haverford up 11-10.
Despite the fact that Haverford was getting to the line early and often, finishing the game 18-of-22 at the charity stripe, it was Muhlenberg's defense from the field that paved the way for its lead midway through the first half. Haverford made 14 trips to the line in the opening 20 minutes and sank 12 of those chances. However, the Mules limited the Fords to just a pair of field goals over the next 10 minutes and took a 36-22 lead with 5:33 to play.
The Fords' first half comeback bid was fueled in large part by 10 points from Reyes in a span of just 2:27. His last three-pointer of the half brought the score to 42-36. Haverford then closed the first half with a three-pointer from Walt Plumlee and seemingly had momentum on its side despite a 45-41 Muhlenberg edge at the break.
Haverford continued to chip away at the lead coming out of the break and got back-to-back baskets from Lucas Colombo and Gibby Graves, tying the score at 45 with 17 minutes left in the contest. The score would also be tied on five more occasions for a total of 10 times in the game. The final even score came with 6:44 on the clock and the squads deadlocked at 61.
Just when it looked like the game was up for grabs, Muhlenberg ran off 10 of the next 11 points and held a 72-62 lead with 3:27 to play. The Fords got the deficit down to single digits on two separate occasions, but the Mules would not let it get any tighter and prevailed for the 82-69 win. Haverford's 18 made free throws kept the Fords in the game, but were ultimately not enough to combat a shooting percentage of just under 51-percent from Muhlenberg.
Men's basketball will be back out on the road this Saturday as the team travels to McDaniel for a 3 p.m. tip. Starting next week, the Fords will close out the regular season schedule with three of those final four games played on their home floor.