ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team raced out to a first half lead and carried that edge into the halftime break against Muhlenberg on Tuesday night. However, the host Mules turned the tables in the second half during their 73-61 win inside Memorial Hall.
Haverford continued its impressive shooting output, outscoring the Mules beyond the arc and holding a better free throw percentage for the contest. Kahlil Garnes scored 18 points as he recorded six three-pointers to lead Haverford. Matt Sherman finished with 16 points. Muhlenberg had four players reach double figures with Brandon LaRose's 19 points and nine rebounds leading the way for the hosts.
With his latest double figure scoring total, Sherman creeps closer to the 1,000 point milestone as he now has 967 points in his career with three games to play. His 16 points on Tuesday moved him up to 17th on the program's all-time list as he passed both Gabe O'Malley '95 (964 career points) and Jeremy Edwards '92 (965 career points).
After a three-pointer from Joe Hartman opened the scoring for Haverford, it was Sherman who poured in the next six points as Haverford got a quick 7-2 advantage. The two sides exchanged the lead seven times in the opening half. Ultimately, it was Sherman's two free throws with just a second remaining in the opening half that gave Haverford a 24-23 lead at the break. Haverford's early five point lead ended up being the largest of the half for either side as Muhlenberg never led by more than a possession during the first 20 minutes.
Just like the first half, the Fords opened the scoring to start the second as Kyle Goldfarb knocked down a jumper. However, the Mules ran off nine straight points following the opening basket and took a 34-28 lead with 16:30 to play in the game. That lead held for the rest of the night as the Mules shot over 56 percent in the second half with 18 of their points coming from the bench.
Garnes did his best to will the team back into the contest with 12 points during the final 20 minutes after Sherman had scored 10 points in the opening half. The Fords also shared the ball extremely well in the second period with 11 of their 14 baskets from the field coming in assisted efforts. Goldfarb and Sherman each dished out four assists on the night to lead Haverford in that category.
Men's basketball will now return home to the Gooding '84 Arena for its final two home games of the 2016-17 season. Up first will be Senior Day for Sherman on Saturday against McDaniel. The game is scheduled to tip at 3 p.m. The Fords will host Swarthmore and travel to Johns Hopkins the following week to close out the regular season.