HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's basketball (6-4, 2-2 CC) team registered a 66-63 victory over visiting Gettysburg (5-3, 2-2 CC) Saturday afternoon inside the Gooding '84 Arena. The Fords hit shots when they needed to down the stretch and took down the Bullets thanks to a late-game three from Josh Love. Both teams came into the matchup evenly, battling for some early playoff positioning in the conference. With the win, Haverford is now 2-2 in the Centennial Conference and takes a two-game winning streak into the 2022 portion of the schedule.
The energy in Gooding Arena set the stage for a tight contest. Early on, the teams traded baskets, but the Bullets built an early seven-point lead behind the play of Jordan Stafford. However, the Fords battled back quickly as the team got contributions from Nicholas Stewart and Jackson Ryan, bringing Gettysburg's lead down to one. Harry Johnson eventually tied the game up with a free throw as the clock read 12:16.
Turnovers were somewhat of an issue in the first half for both teams. The teams combined for 14 turnovers in the first half and 28 for the game, but neither could capitalize fully on those opportunities. Haverford scored 11 points off turnovers, while Gettysburg added just 13. If there was a difference to be made between the teams, it was at the free throw and three-point lines. The Fords shot ten more free throws than their opposition and made four more threes.
Ryan and Love got good looks in the first half from deep. The juniors accounted for all of Haverford's first-half threes with four total. The Fords did their best to build their lead, but Gettysburg fought back to keep the game close. Haverford went up by six points which prompted Gettysburg to take a timeout. After the timeout, the Bullets knocked down two shots, a layup from Colin Farrell and a three-pointer from Carl Schaller. The first half ended with Gettysburg on top by one, setting up for an electric second half.
There was no reason to expect the second half to be different than the first. Once again, the teams were trading baskets in a game that was destined to go down to the wire. The game seemed in doubt when the Fords found themselves down by as many as ten with 4:50 remaining in the contest. However, the comeback was now on for the hosts.
Stewart checked into the game and provided the instant spark the Fords were looking for. The junior connected from deep to cut the lead to seven. In the following possession, Stewart was fouled while shooting a three. As calm as he could, Stewart knocked down all three of his free throw attempts to now cut the lead to four. After another defensive stop, Nate Torres got himself into the lane with a spin move, connecting on his reverse layup. The Bullets lead was now only two points with 2:43 remaining. The following minute saw both teams struggling to score. Still, Gettysburg finally got to the free-throw line with just under two minutes left to play but only was able to connect on one of them.
Haverford remained calm and ran their late-game offense, with the score sitting at 61-58 in favor of the Bullets. Gabe Franklin missed a three-point attempt, but Torres grabbed the offensive rebound. After that, the ball swung around a couple of times and made its way to Ryan, who knocked down the three to tie the game. At the one-minute mark, Gettysburg's Schaller was able to get in the lane for a layup to put his team back on top by two. Haverford struggled to get the look they wanted on their next possession, but the ball eventually found Love. With five seconds remaining on the shot clock and 43 seconds on the game clock, Love knocked down the deep three, giving Haverford a late one-point lead.
All the Fords needed to do was get a couple of more stops, and the game was theirs. With the defense swarming the Gettysburg offense, Farrell, who was hot for the Bullets on the day, couldn't get his three-point attempt to fall in the closing seconds. With Gettysburg forced to foul, Ryan Trotter knocked down both free throws to give the Fords a three-point lead with 15 seconds left. With one last defensive stop needed, Farrell missed another attempt as the clock hit zero, giving the Haverford the win at home.
Love finished the game with 18 points and seven rebounds. He is currently averaging 11.7 points per game this season. Torres contributed 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench in 29 minutes of action. Jackson Ryan added 12 points and eight rebounds. Stewart provided the late-game spark and finished with eight points and four rebounds. Trotter led the team in assists with five.
Men's basketball will now break for the final exams period and winter holidays, returning to action on January 8, 2022, against No. 12 Johns Hopkins at Gooding Arena. Tip-off for that contest is slated for approximately 1 p.m. as the game will take place ahead of the women taking on the Blue Jays at 3 p.m.
