Box Score

SWARTHMORE, Pa.—No. 6 Swarthmore left no doubt that it was the top team in the Centennial Conference on Saturday night by fighting off the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays 79-61 and claiming the team's second Centennial Conference Championship in front of a packed house at Tarble Pavilion. With the win, the Garnet automatically enter the NCAA Division III National Tournament which begins on March 8.

The Garnet (24-3), were appearing in their fifth ever Centennial Conference Championship, including each of the last four seasons. For the second year in a row it came down to Hopkins vs. Swarthmore for the title round. Hopkins got the better of Swarthmore in 2018, but in 2019, the Garnet started off hot and never looked back, never conceding the lead at any point in the game.

Senior guard Cam Wiley, only one of two players in Centennial Conference history to play in four consecutive men's basketball championships, earned Tournament MVP honors for the second time in his career following another dazzling performance in the big game. Wiley shot a blistering 72.7 percent from the field en route to a game-high 27 points. Wiley connected on 3-of-5 3-point attempts and shot 8-of-10 from the free-throw line. He also pitched in four rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Three other Garnet players recorded double-digit points. Freshman George Visconti and sophomore Conor Harkins each knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Junior forward Zac O'Dell had his way in the paint and also opened up the playbook by flashing his long-range game. He sank two 3-pointers, just his eighth and ninth makes this season from downtown. Overall he went 5-for-7 from the floor to finish with 12 points. He was a stalwart defensively as well, blocking four Johns Hopkins shots and stealing the ball three times.

Forward Nate Shafer, who got into some foul trouble, blocked two shots, scored eight points and had seven rebounds in 19 minutes of action. Colin Shaw pitched in five points, Swarthmore's only points off the bench.

Swarthmore's relentless defense forced 16 Johns Hopkins turnovers which led directly to 23 points.

The Garnet opened the game by making their first four 3-point attempts and were 8-for-12 from beyond the arc after 11 minutes of action. Despite Swarthmore's hot stroke, Hopkins hung around and trailed by 10 up to that point. Both teams then went cold and neither team scored for the next three-and-a-half minutes. Then, O'Dell went up and took the lid off Swarthmore's basket with a two-handed slam dunk off a backdoor cut that electrified the crowd at Tarble. In the final 2:41 of the first half, Swarthmore closed out the period on a 9-0 run. Wiley went hard to the hoop in the final seconds of the half for a tough layup that put Swarthmore up 20 at the break, 46-26.

A Wiley layup with 16:15 left in the second half gave Swarthmore its largest lead of the game at 51-29.

Hopkins kept things interesting with a run late in the second half, pulling back within 10 points with 5:36 remaining. Swarthmore responded with a 7-0 run capped off with an O'Dell 3-pointer that put to rest any doubt about the outcome of the game.

Swarthmore now awaits Monday's announcement of the location of its NCAA Tournament first round game as well as its opponent.