LYCOMING, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team once again appeared poised for a second half comeback, but ultimately came up on the wrong end of a 78-67 score against Western Connecticut State on Friday in the Lycoming Tournament. The Fords stayed within striking distance seemingly all night despite the Colonials shooting just under 50 percent from the floor. However, an uncharacteristic cold stretch from Haverford in the final minutes allowed Western Connecticut State to holds its largest lead of the night at the final buzzer.
The Fords will now play Penn State Schuylkill tomorrow at 1 p.m. to wrap up their weekend at the Lycoming Tournament. Penn State Schuylkill fell to host Lycoming by a 111-81 score in the game that preceded Haverford's tip. Lycoming and Western Connecticut State are scheduled to get underway at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Joe Scibelli had another big game for the Fords as the sophomore poured in a career-high 27 points to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds for his second double-double in as many games. Fellow sophomores Kahlil Garnes and Kyle Goldfarb also reached double figures with 15 and 10 points, respectively. A balanced scoring effort from the Colonials saw four players reach double figures as Jauch Green led the way with 23 points for his team.
Haverford held a lead on four different occasions in the opening half. The first came when Garnes knocked down a triple to open the scoring. He later gave his side a 9-8 lead after connecting on a jumper in the paint. The Colonials went up by as many as 10 points, 21-11, midway through the opening half. Nevertheless, a jumper from Scibelli in the paint reclaimed Haverford's advantage at 30-28 with 4:20 remaining in the half to cap a 19-7 spurt over a six minute span. Scibelli had eight points during that run.
Freshman Grayson Roth, who finished with eight points off the bench, gave the Fords their final lead of the opening half as he knocked down a three-pointer to set the score at 33-32. However, the Colonials answered with a basket on their next possession and held a one point lead, 36-35, after 20 minutes of play.
Haverford shot just over 48 percent from the field during the opening half, while the Colonials shot over 53 percent during that time. Free throw shooting kept Haverford in the game as the Fords went 15-of-17 at the line (88.2%). Western Connecticut State shot just 59 percent at the charity stripe, but outscored the Fords by two points at the line as the Colonials got 15 more attempts during the contest.
Helping that effort was a 7-for-7 night at the line from Scibelli who became just the 15th different player in program history to make all of his free throws in a game with at least seven attempts. He joins teammates Matt Sherman (10-for-10 against Bard in 2014) and Garnes (8-for-8 vs. McDaniel last year) to accomplish that feat which has been done 25 times in school history.
Although unable to take the lead or tie the game in the second half, Haverford had the contest within a single point on seven different occasions. The final of those opportunities came with 3:54 left and the score set at 63-62 after Scibelli hit a jumper following a Colonials turnover. However, the Fords went without a field goal for just over three minutes as Western Connecticut State pulled away.