MIDDLETOWN, Conn.—Swarthmore College Men's Basketball found itself in uncharted territory on Saturday night after advancing to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 for the first-time ever in program history. The No. 14 Garnet knocked off the No. 15 Wesleyan University Cardinals 97-75 on the road and will now face Plattsburgh State in the next round.
Junior guard Cam Wiley once again had a big game for the Garnet. In what was his best statistical night of the season, Wiley flirted with a triple-double by recording 27 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Wiley went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line and was actually Swarthmore's only miss from the charity stripe on the evening. The Garnet went 21-for-22 (95.5 percent) from the line, their best effort this entire season and their first game shooting above 70 percent from the free-throw line since Jan. 27.
Swarthmore shot an even 50 percent from the floor (32-for-64) and were sharp from behind the 3-point line, hitting 12-of-26 long-range attempts for a 46.2 percent success rate. Wesleyan shot 39.7 percent overall and 36 percent from three.
The Garnet showed they meant business right away, jumping to a 7-0 lead. Wesleyan recovered and found its first lead at 15-14 with 13:16 to go in the first. Another 7-0 run in response gave the Garnet some momentum and they played consistently the rest of the first half, accumulating an 18-point lead by halftime. Jim Lammers' 3-pointer with 30 seconds left sent Swarthmore into the locker room up 52-34.
Swarthmore's lead eclipsed 20 points at the 17:26 mark after a pair of free throws from Wiley made it 58-37.
Wesleyan gave Swarthmore a scare with a 23-2 run that pulled them within three points with just under 12 minutes to play.
However, Swarthmore began to navigate out of the doldrums with a 3-pointer from freshman Conor Harkins who finished with 12 points. That shot triggered a 19-1 run for Swarthmore over the next six minutes minutes that put the game out of reach.
In addition to the double-digit scoring nights by Wiley and Harkins, Zac O'Dell, Nate Shafer and Zack Yonda all scored at least 10 as well.
O'Dell finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, five of which were possession-extending offensive boards. O'Dell went 9-for-14 from the floor and also had two blocks.
Shafer posted 16 points, and went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. He recorded eight rebounds and blocked five shots.
Yonda netted all three of his 3-point attempts and finished with 13 points.
Swarthmore's NCAA Tournament run continues next weekend continues next weekend against Plattsburgh St. The other matchup in Swarthmore's side of the Round of 16 features Hamilton vs. Springfield. The location of these games will be announced on Monday.