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BY KEVIN FRIEDENBERG

In print | Published January 31, 2008

The momentum that had carried the men’s basketball squad through its two recent wins took a hit on Saturday, when Ursinus narrowly trumped Swarthmore by a mere 3 points.

It seemed like a comeback was in the works when the Garnet successfully put a stop to their four game skid with what can only be described as a merciless bludgeoning of Philadelphia Biblical last week, in which they dominated the visiting squad by 42 points.

Rolling this energy into their next home game, the Garnet wrenched a victory from Washington College in a thrilling 93-87 double overtime victory.

The visiting Shoremen (4-12, 1-8 CC) allowed the Garnet their most potent offensive showing of the season while simultaneously getting blown away by the Garnet in virtually every shooting percentage statistic.

With renewed vigor, the Garnet traveled to Ursinus College on Saturday to face the leading team in the conference (15-2, 10-0 CC).

At Ursinus, the Garnet came out with guns blazing, racking up a quick nine point lead before Ursinus’s formidable offense uncorked a savage 15-0 run to steal back the lead.

Like Billy Zane from Sniper, guard Matt Allen ’10 was laying them down from a distance, putting away five deep strikes in the first half alone. Yet with four Bears players hitting double figures on the scoreboard, led by All-American Nick Shattuck (27), Ursinus refused to go down without a battle.

Coming out of halftime only down by two points, the Garnet were determined to keep this game tight, eventually snagging an eight point lead just over halfway through the second half.

In a game that saw more lead changes than the Oakland Raiders, neither team was willing to succumb to the other. Facing a single point deficit late in the game, the Bears did what any team would do, and gave the ball to playmaker Shattuck who dropped a flurry of buckets to help put the Bears up, eventually for good with an 88-85 victory.

“We only have a couple guys who shoot three’s, and Ursinus had five guys who can shoot, so we needed to keep it close,” Allen said.

The X-factor in this game was the free throw line, where the Bears hit 77.8 percent to the Garnet’s lackluster 56.3 percent. In addition to Allen’s 20 points, forward Ian McCormick ’08 threw down 26 points, with classmate Matt Kurman ’08 chipping in 16 of his own.

Swarthmore showed what they are truly capable of against the Bears. The game should serve as a warning to opponents that the Garnet will face later this season. “We’re really starting to come together as a team, against Ursinus we came out with intensity,” forward Raul Ordonez ’09 said.

“It’s all about execution, though the ball didn’t bounce our way with Ursinus. If we can keep up the level of play we should be able to pick up some wins down the stretch,” Ordonez said.

The Garnet have surged recently, averaging 88 points in their last three games, including a whopping 93 while beating Washington College. “Teams we played recently have liked to push the tempo, and everyone, us and them, has been knocking down threes,” McCormick said. Against Washington, four Garnet ballers hit double figures for scoring, including McCormick (29), Steve Wolf ’08 (10), Kurman (16), and Ryan Carmichael ’11 (14).

Key points from Matt Turner ’10 helped the Garnet survive a barn-burning first overtime, while the unselfish play of classmate Allen (9 assists) allowed the Garnet to spread the floor and convert multiple scoring attempts.

“We know we can put up a lot of points, we just need more defensive stops. We’ve become a lot more confident recently,” added Allen.

Three’s from Carmichael and McCormick were instrumental to keeping the game within reach for the Garnet early in the second half. The exciting victory, capped by a Turner long-ball gave the Garnet an emotional lift before embarking on a three-away-game streak that included the Ursinus game as well the Garnet’s upcoming battle against perennial rival Haverford on Jan. 30 at 8:00 p.m. at Haverford.

“Both teams have been underachieving this year, it’s going to be a close game,” McCormick predicted.

“We’re struggling a little bit right now, but it’s easy to get excited for Haverford because it’s a big game and we’ll have the support of the Garnet faithful,” Wolf said.

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