WESTMINSTER, Md. – The Haverford College men's basketball team got a jumper to go from Jesse Turkson with just one-tenth of a second left to defeat McDaniel on Saturday afternoon in a thrilling 82-80 overtime contest. With today's win, the Fords now have their most overall and road victories since the 2010-11 season. Their conference victory mark is the program's highest since the 2011-12 campaign.
Haverford wrapped up the season sweep of the Green Terror which included an 89-64 win inside Gooding Arena back in January. This marks the second straight season the Fords have swept the Green Terror. Haverford last swept the season series with McDaniel in back-to-back seasons during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 campaigns.
In what was a thrilling contest throughout, both teams showed great determination all the afternoon. Haverford looked to be well on its way to cruising to its second win of the season over the Green Terror after a 16-2 run broke a 43-all tie and gave the Fords a 59-45 lead with just under eight minutes to play. Nevertheless, McDaniel had a run of its own down the stretch and scored 11 straight to knot the score at 64-all with 1:52 remaining in regulation.
The Green Terror held the lead twice during the final two minutes of regulation. However, Kahlil Garnes got the free throw line with 1:05 showing on the game clock to tie the score at 66. He then matched a McDaniel layup with one of his own to level the score at 68-all with 26 seconds to play before the Fords successfully forced the overtime session with a defensive stop on McDaniel's final possession.
During the five-minute overtime, Haverford scored six of the first eight points to take a 74-70 advantage just one minute in. A three-pointer from Kyle Goldfarb capped that brief spurt in what turned out to be the largest lead for either team in the extra period. As was the case all afternoon, neither side was going to go down without a fight. On three different occasions, the teams found themselves deadlocked in just the overtime period alone. Goldfarb hit another clutch three with 1:16 remaining in the overtime to tie the game at 80. The Fords then got three straight defensive stops to pave the way toward the final game-winning basket.
Turkson rejected McDaniel's chance at the lead with a block of Aaron Washington that came with 31 seconds to play. Goldfarb had the ball in his hand on the ensuing possession and a chance to provide one last heroic basket in the waning seconds, but Washington returned the favor with a block of his own. Nevertheless, Turkson was in perfect position to collect the loose ball and put it back up for the final basket of the afternoon. The Green Terror had one-tenth of a second to compete a full court pass and tip-in but nothing close materialized on that final inbound.
Turkson's final basket capped another double-double for the Fords' sophomore as he finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds. He was one of five Haverford players in double figures. Jack Cork came off the bench to score 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting in just 20 minutes of playing time. Joe Scibelli added 18 points. Fellow seniors Goldfarb and Garnes added 15 and 11 points, respectively. The Fords finished the game shooting over 50 percent from the field. That mark included a blistering 62.8% during the second half while also going 4-for-7 during the extra session. Haverford also owned the advantage on the boards with a 43-32 rebounding margin.
Men's basketball will now return home in hopes of avenging a pair of defeats from earlier in the conference schedule to close the regular season. The first of those two contests will see Haverford welcome Hood Trophy rival Swarthmore to its home court this Wednesday, February 13 at 8 p.m. as the second game of doubleheader with the women's team that night. The Fords wrap up the regular season next Saturday at Johns Hopkins.