CARLISLE, Pa. - The Haverford College men's basketball team (9-16, 7-11 CC) ended their regular season with a road win at Dickinson (6-19,4-14 CC) by a score of 53-40. The win is a bittersweet one as the Fords were eliminated from playoff contention by virtue of the McDaniel and Franklin & Marshall result. However, the Fords did not know how that game would play out and took care of business on the road. Nate Torres and Jackson Ryan led the way for the Fords on Saturday, each scoring 16 points. Torres added eight rebounds and three assists.
The teams battled back-and-forth in the first half. Dickinson controlled most of the play in the early goings, building a nine-point lead at one point. The cushion came after a Skyler Venezia three at the 9:07 mark. The Fords got contributions from Torres and Ryan to work their way back into the game. Ryan went on a solo scoring run, notching a made three-pointer and following that conversion up with a layup on back-to-back possessions. The senior later knocked down another three to bring the Fords within three at the 5:07 mark of the first half. Haverford found itself down seven with 30 seconds in the half before Nick Kerkorian kicked it out to Ryan for his third three of the frame, and third in the closing five minutes. The perfectly-timed pass was Kerkorian's fourth assist of the half as he ran a majority of the offense for the visitors.
If there was one area the Fords struggled on Saturday, it was the free throw line. Haverford was only 7-13 from the line going into halftime and the Fords knew they would have to shoot better than that to close the gap. Dickinson doubled the Fords on the glass, out-rebounding the visitors 28-12 in the first half. The Red Devils had every intention of making the regular season finale a "grind it out" game, and the Fords had to find adjustments.
With the season on the line, Haverford opened the second half down by four and the start from the field was far from what they were looking for. Dickinson started the half with a made bucket and in an attempt to answer, Torres was given an offensive foul during his drive to the basket. The free throw troubles continued as Josh Love went 1-for-2 from the line at the 18:20 mark but did manage to get the Fords on the board. As both teams struggled to get any momentum going in the early part of the second half, Dickinson called timeout in an attempt to find some sort of rhythm. However, the timeout had no effect on the pacing of the game. The score still sat at 32-28 in favor of Dickinson up until the 13:54 mark of the second half when Kerkorian knocked down a mid-range jumper to bring the Fords within two.
The offenses from both teams struggled to get anything to click, but Torres refused to let that be the story of the game. The senior pumped-faked to get his defender in the air as he converted the standstill layup plus the foul. His basket and free throw gave Haverford a 33-32 lead but Dickinson regained the lead on the very next possession. Even with those baskets, the teams were a combined 4-of-23 from the field in the second half.
Kerkorian put the Fords up three after a basket plus the foul with ten minutes left in the game. Haverford then opened the lead up to five after a Torres layup with 8:20 remaining. Dickinson closed the gap with the hoop and the harm from Martin Mann, cutting the lead to two points. Mann then tied the game at the five-minute mark as both teams were now locked at 40-all.
Torres found himself wide open at the three-point line with just four minutes remaining in the game. The senior let it fly with confidence, and buried it to put Haverford up 44-40. With 2:41 left to play, Ryan showed shifty handles to get into the lane to convert a reverse layup to put the Fords up six. Ryan's layup seemed to put the finishing touches on the road victory for the Fords as the Red Devils were held scoreless for the final five minutes of action.
Haverford finished the game with three scorers in double digits. Kerkorian's 10 points trailed only Ryan and Torres' 16 points on the afternoon. It wasn't the prettiest shooting day for either team, as Dickinson and Haverford each shot under 30 percent. The Fords knocked down six three en route to the victory, while going 19-for-29 from the free-throw line.
Unfortunately, the Fords season ends with the result of the McDaniel and Franklin & Marshall game. Haverford needed both the win and a Franklin & Marshall loss to the Green Terror to make the Centennial Conference playoffs. The Fords finish the season with a 9-16 record and a 7-11 record in conference play.