HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team has made headlines in recent years with increased success on the court during each successive season under head coach Patrick Doherty. That success resulted in the program's first Centennial Conference Tournament appearance in nearly 10 years last winter. Two instrumental pieces of the Fords' climb up the Centennial Conference standings, Joe Scibelli '19 and Jack Cork '20, have since gone on to find success playing internationally after their Haverford careers.

Keeping with their Haverford backgrounds, the experiences of Scibelli and Cork were well-rounded endeavors. Continuing to play the sport they love, both players set themselves up for future success as they were able to obtain their master's degrees while playing and studying at Newcastle University in England. Newcastle prides itself on being one of the leading universities for athletics in the United Kingdom and consistently ranks among the top British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) standings.

During his senior season in 2018-19, Scibelli earned first-team All-Centennial Conference honors as he became the first player in the CC to average a double-double (17.2 ppg and 10.0 rbg) since 2012 as he led the conference in both statistical categories. The 2016 Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year capped his career with 1,291 career points and was also named to the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team as a senior.

"Playing professional basketball was always something that I wanted to look into doing," said Scibelli. "However, I didn't think that it was really attainable until one of my childhood friends ended up playing in Ireland. He told me that there were a lot of opportunities to play in the U.K. and Ireland and helped me make some connections to get started."

One year later, Scibelli recommended Cork join the team based on his outstanding season of experience. With Cork already being an English citizen, the transition was easy for the Fords' forward who played in 94 career games and was a starter throughout the team's playoff run. In addition to being named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor roll during each of his final three seasons with the Fords, Cork ranked among the best players in the conference in blocked shots and was a constant matchup problem for the opposition, scoring 8.1 points per game and securing 4.6 boards per game as a senior.

Balancing a professional basketball career while pursuing a master's degree is certainly a daunting task but both Cork and Scibelli noted that Haverford's academic requirements had them uniquely qualified to meet these challenges. "Balancing school and basketball is one of the toughest challenges," explained Cork. "However, I think my experience at Haverford really prepared me for this situation. It taught me how to effectively manage my time and meet deadlines."

For Scibelli, the chance to play overseas and travel all over Europe was a once in a lifetime opportunity that he shared with his Newcastle teammates who he still keeps in touch with after their one season together. "Reading about another culture is much different from actually experiencing it. Part of the reason why I chose to pursue playing overseas was because I didn't have the chance to go abroad while at Haverford. This presented me with an incredible opportunity to live in another country and experience their culture firsthand."

However, all that travel did not come without its challenges. Making the four-hour trip to Worcester for one of Scibelli's games, Team Newcastle got stuck in traffic on the way. Despite arriving to the gym 10 minutes before tip-off and having just five minutes of warm-ups, Newcastle ended up playing one of its better games of the season and provided Scibelli a memory that will last a lifetime.

Cork's experience with Team Newcastle allowed him to immerse himself in the culture and share his unique background as the players on the team came from all over the world. "Playing overseas has given me the chance to immerse myself in other cultures. There are players from all over the world on the roster with a multitude of different backgrounds. It is especially interesting to see how other nationalities approach basketball and the style with which they play the game."

With his team currently sitting at 5-2 overall, Cork and his Team Newcastle teammates find themselves in another championship pursuit thanks in part to their ability to come together as a team. His most memorable experience to date has been the team's two most recent wins against Nottingham and Loughborough. In both contests, Team Newcastle trailed by double figures before rallying for back-to-back one point victories.

Presented with a number of opportunities afforded to them, both Scibelli and Cork have an eye on their futures. Using the Haverford network, Scibelli was able to recently land a job at Macquarie AirFinance with connections facilitated by former men's squash captain Aaron Horwitz '17. "It was awesome to see Fords helping Fords and I would love to return the favor to some of the younger athletes at some point," stated Scibelli.

Chasing down a championship while completing his coursework towards his master's in banking and finance, Cork plans to follow a similar path and pursue a career in the finance industry after his graduation from Newcastle this spring.