HAVERFORD, Pa. – Returning from a 25 day layoff over the winter break, the Haverford College men's basketball team nearly came away with a come-from-behind victory against Sarah Lawrence on Wednesday night inside the Gooding '84 Arena. The Fords erased a 15 point deficit to take a second half lead before the Gryphons prevailed in the final minutes by a 63-57 final.
Joe Scibelli finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Fords. Scibelli, the Centennial Conference leader in both scoring and rebounding, just missed his eighth 20 point game of the season as he came away with his sixth double-double in 10 games. Behind him was a strong distribution of offense as five other players scored at least five points. Sam Stogdon added eight points and six rebounds, while Matt Sherman and Jonathan Lang each scored seven points. Joe Hartman and Kahlil Garnes finished with six and five points, respectively. Sherman also led the Fords with five assists as 14 of Haverford's 22 baskets from the field were assisted.
The first half started in a similar to fashion to how the game would end as the teams traded the lead back-and-forth during the first 20 minutes. Playing a half which saw the score tied on seven different occasions, Haverford took its largest lead of the first 20 minutes with a layup from Sherman on the fast break to make the score 15-12.
Haverford nullified a six point advantage late in the first half from Sarah Lawrence as the teams retreated to the locker room tied at 25. However, the Gryphons came out on fire in the second half and used an 18-3 run in 5:40 of playing time to hold their largest edge of the night. The Sarah Lawrence lead was still 14 points with 12:37 to play in the game. However, the Fords had a run of their own as they dominated the next nine minutes with a 25-10 advantage on the scoreboard and took a one point lead with 2:55 to go in regulation.
Haverford's persistence was also the key on the go-ahead basket as it came with Stogdon pulling down an offensive board and going back up with the 57-56 lead. Scibelli scored 11 of his game-high 19 points during that stretch in which Haverford stormed back into the game. Following a turnover from both teams, the Gryphons went to work in the paint to reclaim a 58-57 lead with 2:08 remaining.
Just as quickly as the Fords seemed to have everything clicking on the offensive end, Sarah Lawrence regrouped defensively and held the Fords scoreless on their final seven shots of the game. Five of those seven attempts came when Haverford had a chance to tie the game or take the lead before the Gryphons scored four points at the free throw line in the final 14 seconds during the eventual 63-57 win.
Men's basketball will resume Centennial Conference play this weekend as the team treks to Dickinson for a 4 p.m. showdown with the Red Devils. The men's game will be preceded by the women's tip at 2 p.m. in Carlisle.
