BY KEVIN FRIEDENBERG

In print | Published February 22, 2007

The members of the men’s basketball team did everything in their power and gave all the effort they could, but in the end, postseason play loomed just out of their reach. The Garnet began its final week of the regular season by giving Washington College another loss Thursday night, before succumbing to archrival Haverford College in overtime on Saturday afternoon. This loss officially capped the 2006-2007 campaign with an overall record of 11-14, with an 8-10 record in the Centennial Conference.

Against the Shoremen, forward Ian McCormick ’08 was able to continue his stellar year by laying in his 1,000th collegiate point, moving him into a group of six elite Swarthmore players who have reached this level while also amassing 500 rebounds. Yesterday, McCormick was named to the All-Centennial Conference Second Team, while teammate Matt Kurman ’08 received an honorable mention.

“I think we’re all really proud of the effort we put into this year.” Raul Ordonez ‘09 said. "There’s a sense of optimism for next year. We’ll just work hard and look to build upon what we accomplished this season."

Though the game against Haverford began with the teams going back and forth, efforts by Noam Fleigelman ’08 and Kurman gave the Garnet a thin lead early on. However, at this point the Fords made some runs to take a commanding lead, thanks mostly to the play of senior Ray Brown, who dipped for 15 points in the first act. Luckily, a burst by the Garnet cut the lead to just nine points, giving the visitors more momentum heading into the locker room with a score of 35-26.

In the second half, an early effort by forward Steve Wolf ’08 and McCormick helped the Garnet diminish the Ford lead to just three points. After trading a few possessions, free throws by McCormick and captain Chris Casey ’07 knotted up the score, remaining so for a few trips up and down the floor. The Fords managed to rip off a 12-4 run with under eight minutes to play to amp up the intensity of both the players and the fans in the Douglas B. Gardner Center.

With time winding down, scores by Kurman and Wolf helped slash the Haverford lead before Brown tied the game up with just less than 20 seconds remaining in the game. With the game on the line, Swarthmore elected to get the rock into the hands of Casey, who sank an electrifying running one-handed shot to put the Garnet up with 8.8 ticks left on the clock. In a cruel twist of fate, Haverford senior Mike Fratangelo snatched a sure win from the hands of the Garnet by sending the game into overtime with a shot that fell as the buzzer blared.

“We really battled but unfortunately it just wasn’t our year. We’ve got all the pieces in place to take it to the next level, although we will miss our seniors,” Wolf said.

The extra period was largely in favor of the Fords, who jumped out to an early lead before a deep ball by Kurman and free throws by Wolf sliced the deficit to a single point with under 30 seconds to play. However, red-hot free-throw performances essentially iced the game in favor of the Fords who were able to hold on to a slim lead until time expired, ending the Garnet’s season with a score of 78-74.

Wolf finished the game with 20 points while McCormick and Kurman added 20 and 17 respectively. Casey finished his time at Swarthmore by ranking third all-time in the assists category with 257, while finishing fourth all-time on the steals list with 107. McCormick also had a record-setting season when he tied the school record for 50 blocks in one season.

The game against Washington College also happened to be Senior Night for the Garnet, who honored seniors Casey, Dillon McGrew, Mark Rhode and Alan Walsh for their careers on the hardwood at Swarthmore. Kurman was the high scorer for the Garnet, totaling 14, while Ordonez nabbed nine boards in the 67-57 win.

“All four of the seniors have been absolutely fantastic. They have been team-oriented and have always put their personal goals behind the team’s,” head coach Lee Wimberly said. “They have been as good a group of seniors as I’ve ever coached.”

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