HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's basketball team (5-11, 3-6 CC) was upended by Muhlenberg (11-5, 6-3 CC) on Wednesday evening inside Gooding Arena, with the Mules taking the 82-61 road win.
Nate Torres and Jackson Ryan each tallied 13 points to lead the way for the Fords in the midweek contest. Torres added six rebounds and a block to his tally, and connected on 4-of-7 from the field.
The Fords held right with the Mules in the early goings, with a Ryan Trotter jumper tying the score at 8-8 with 14 minutes left. A 7-0 spurt for the visitors was then fueled entirely by Dan Gaines, as he helped his team gain some separation early. A Brandon Goldberg layup with 10:39 to play put the Mules up 10, and Jayson Williams-Johnson then followed with a triple to prompt a Haverford timeout down 25-12 with 9:39 remaining in the first half.
Muhlenberg worked its way around some Haverford flurries, eventually pushing the lead to 15 at 35-20 after a Gaines three-pointer, and later extending the lead to 40-23 following Charlie Gillkin's triple with just over five minutes remaining in the first. Nicholas Stewart and Brandon Banadda connected to help highlight a 6-2 Haverford spurt, but Muhlenberg continued to find the answers, taking a 23-point cushion into the intermission.
Torres knocked down a three-pointer to begin the second half, and Josh Love then threw down an emphatic dunk on a fast-break opportunity, and suddenly Haverford had a bit of momentum to begin the second frame. Torres did well to work through traffic for a crafty layup that came with 16 minutes to play, and Ryan later converted from the free-throw line to help whittle down the deficit.
Muhlenberg did well to still keep a sizable lead thanks in part to a balanced scoring effort paced by Gaines. The lead reached its apex of 27 with 5:46 remaining in the second half, and the Fords brought in some reserves for the final three minutes of action. Banadda made a pair of three-pointers in that stretch to finish with nine points for the contest.
Muhlenberg staked its advantage by controlling the rebounding battle by a 40-33 mark, and shooting 54.8 percent from the field, including 11-for-25 from beyond the arc. Despite just making five trips to the free-throw line, a balanced scoring effort that featured four in double figures set the tone for the contest. Gaines (22 points, eight rebounds), Giovanni Rubino (17 points, five rebounds) and Williams-Johnson (17 points, two rebounds) led the way while Goldberg also notched 12 points and six rebounds.
Haverford will return to action on Saturday, heading out to Lancaster for a rematch with Franklin & Marshall. The contest is slated to begin at 3 p.m. and will be preceded by the women's squads matching up at approximately 1 p.m.