HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's basketball team (13-12, 9-9 CC) fell at home to Dickinson inside Gooding Arena Saturday afternoon. The Fords came up short in a matchup with the visiting Red Devils (11-12, 10-8 CC) by a final score of 63-57. The Fords battled for a playoff spot as Nick Kerkorian and Jackson Ryan led the way for the Fords with 12 points each. Brandon Banadda was solid off the bench with nine points, three rebounds, and two assists. Prior to the contest, Haverford honored the lone senior in Stephen Flanders for his contributions to the men's basketball program.
Win, and you are in. That's what was on the line Saturday afternoon inside Gooding Arena. Two teams were to battle it out for the final Centennial Conference playoff spots. With postseason spots to fight for, it made for an electric atmosphere as alumni, parents, and fellow students filled up the stands.
After the opening ten minutes indicated that it would be a low-scoring affair, both teams ramped up at a blistering pace but failed to convert on many opening scoring attempts. Haverford suffered the most from its cold shooting as they stared down an early 16-8 deficit in the opening moments. However, Nick Kerkorian looked to match his heroics from the first matchup. Kerkorian knocked down a three to pull the Fords to within five. Dickinson pushed the lead back up to seven, but the junior cut it five again after two converted free throws. With both teams still battling, Banadda hit a stand-still three to cut the lead to three with under three minutes remaining in the first half.
With the score sitting at 25-19 and the Fords feeling good about their play at the end of the half, Brandon Wiercinski of Dickinson hit a long three to beat the buzzer, giving his team a nine-point lead at halftime. Despite being down nine points, it never felt like Haverford would let things get out of hand. However, the shooting had to improve if the Fords were going to make a comeback. Haverford made just six field goals in the first half, four of them coming from deep.
Dickinson pushed the lead to eleven to start the second half, but that would represent their largest lead for the rest of the game as Haverford did everything they could to fight back. Nick Stewart knocked down one of his three-point makes in the opening two minutes of the second stanza. He finished the game with nine points and five rebounds. A Ryan Trotter layup later cut the lead to six with 15:54 left to play. At the 11:53 mark, Dickinson extended the lead back to eight, but that moment was when the slow and steady comeback bid would begin for the Fords. Stewart connected on a three-pointer to make the score 44-39 and Banadda was fouled with nine minutes left, converting his free throws to trim the lead to four.
The free-throw line is where the Fords got right back into the contest. Haverford shot a perfect 16-16 from the line for the game. Two of those came from Jackson Ryan with eight minutes left to play as his free throws cut the lead to two points. However, Dickinson would continue to convert on the other end of the floor, never allowing the Fords to take the lead. Ryan hit another two free throws to tie the game at 50. After baskets from Dickinson's Andrew Gostovich and Drew Haueisen, Haverford called a timeout, down five points with just four minutes left to play. Banadda made a driving layup to cut the lead to three following the timeout. Harry Johnson followed that up with his own layup, cutting the lead to one.
The Fords gave it one last push to tie the game, now down by two with 40 seconds left, but Trotter was just off the mark with a potential game-tying layup through traffic, forcing the Fords to foul. Dickinson was up for the free throw game, knocking down the final four free throws to put the game away.
Haverford concludes its campaign with a 13-12 overall record and a 9-9 mark in Centennial Conference play. The Fords took another big step forward with a young team, as all but one player will be returning for a 2022-23 season that will see a seasoned roster with 11 rising upperclassmen poised to lead the Fords back to the postseason.