ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Haverford College men's basketball team (7-15, 5-10 CC) came up just short to Muhlenberg (14-8, 9-6 CC) Tuesday in Allentown, as the hosts held off multiple comeback attempts from the Fords before Haverford eventually fell 71-65 as each game becomes more of a "must-win" in the late stages of the season.
Nate Torres was once again a force on Tuesday, as he scored a team-high 20 points. It was Torres' fourth game this season scoring 20 or more points. Torres also matched his season high in field goals made with nine.
The action was even for the majority of the first half. Each team traded buckets with good looks in the paint and from the three-point line. It was clear early on that both teams knew this was a must-win game and the shooting efforts showed. Muhlenberg's Luke Goros opened the scoring inside, but Harry Johnson quickly answered to get Haverford on the board.
At 17:36, Muhlenberg knocked down a three but again, Haverford answered as Torres hit from deep. The back-and-forth action continued for the first ten minutes. Torres carried the load, scoring eight points in that span while Nick Stewart and Jackson Ryan also chipped in.
The Fords got out to a six-point lead with 8:11 to play, when Josh Love knocked down an open three-pointer. However, the Mules slowly chipped away in the final six minutes to retake the lead, 24-22, with four minutes left in the half. Unfortunately for the Fords, Muhlenberg held the advantage at the half thanks to a 12-2 run.
The hosts narrowly outshot the Fords, shooting 38.7 percent from the field compared to 35.7 percent from Haverford. Muhlenberg won the battle on the glass in the first-half, 22-15, and scored nine points off Haverford's eight turnovers.
The game looked to get away from the Fords in the early stages of the second half as Muhlenberg extended its lead to 11. However, with 17:05 on the clock, Haverford got five points from Johnson and Love to quickly get the lead back under 10.
Up for the comeback attempt, Love nailed his second three of the game at 14:06 and followed it up with a mid-range jumper for his 10th point of the game. Torres extended Haverford's scoring run to six after receiving the pass from Ryan Trotter for a layup, cutting the lead to 41-38. It was Trotter's fourth assist of the night as he eventually finished the game with a season-high seven dimes.
Muhlenberg refused to let the Fords get any closer for two minutes, making baskets to push the lead back to six. After back-to-back layups from Brandon Banadda and Torres, Haverford now only stared into a two-point deficit with nine minutes to go.
The visitors looked to be done in by the three-balls. The Mules knocked down three straight threes as visiting fans of the Fords looked at the scoreboard to see their team down by 11. With three minutes left, Haverford mounted one last attempt at a comeback, getting within three points after successive baskets from Trotter, Johnson, and Jackson Ryan.
With a minute left, Trotter committed a foul to put the Mules on the line, but the hosts would nail both attempts to extend the lead to five. The Fords took the ball down the other end of the floor but couldn't convert due to some suffocating last-minute defending from Muhlenberg. With the clock now under thirty seconds and Muhlenberg up by six, the Fords watched the clock hit zero as the comeback attempt fell just short.
The Fords had four scorers in double-digits on the evening. Torres' 20 points led the way while Jackson Ryan (12 points, three assists), Johnson (11 points, two rebounds), and Love (10 points, three rebounds) also had solid games in Allentown.
For the hosts, Giovanni Rubino led all scorers with 23 points while Dan Gaines provided outside scoring for the Mules, scoring 15 on the night. With many of the box score stats even, the difference was in the free-throw shooting. The Mules knocked down 12 of their 15 attempts while the Fords were only able to get to the line six times, making three attempts.
Haverford now returns home for another crucial matchup against Gettysburg on Saturday (3 p.m.). It will be the final men's basketball home game of the season, as Haverford's eight seniors will be honored before the start of the game.