SWARTHMORE, Pa.—In Wednesday's highly anticipated non-conference matchup with the York College (Pa.) Spartans, No. 24 Swarthmore College Men's Basketball put on display one of the more dominant rebounding performances you'll ever see en route to a blowout win.
Swarthmore out-rebounded York 63-23 and won the game 93-68. Swarthmore's +40 rebounding margin is the program's best in recent memory, with a +36 effort against Haverford in 2016-17 being the closest competition to that mark. Three Garnet players recorded double digits in rebounds:
Nate Shafer had 15,
Zac O'Dell had 13 and
Colin Shaw added 10.
Wednesday's matchup looked great on paper with both teams entering the game with six wins. Two of York's wins came against Johns Hopkins University and Franklin & Marshall College, teams that have beaten Swarthmore this season. Last season York had beaten Swarthmore by four, but this year's re-match belonged to the Garnet from the start.
The Garnet never trailed and led by as many as 26 points. Swarthmore shot 34-for-67 from the floor (50.7 percent) and sank 38.1 percent of their 3-point attempts. The 93 points scored are a season-high for the Garnet, and the team could have reached 100 had their shooting been a little better from the free-throw line; Swarthmore shot 17-for-32 (53.1 percent) from the stripe.
Cam Wiley led Swarthmore with 20 points on an 8-of-12 performance from the floor.
Conor Harkins' connected on five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points, six rebounds and two steals.
O'Dell picked up a double-double with 14 points to go along with his 13 boards. He also swatted away three York field-goal attempts.
George Visconti shot 50 percent from the floor (6-of-12) and ended with 14 points. Fellow freshman Shaw added nine points with his 10 rebounds.
Shafer finished with seven points to go along with his four blocks and 15 rebounds. He snagged 11 of Swarthmore's 26 offensive rebounds.
The Garnet scored 42 points in the paint and 22 points off of offensive rebounds.
Jared Wagner led York with 20 points and the Spartans shot 36.8 percent from the floor overall.
Swarthmore began the game on a 7-0 run and towards the end of the second half hustled for a 10-0 run that gave the Garnet some breathing room and a 46-29 lead at halftime.
The Garnet opened the second half on a 6-0 spurt and never looked back; Swarthmore led by at least 16 points the entirety of the second half.
Swarthmore is now off until Dec. 30 when the team hosts No. 25 Middlebury College.
