SWARTHMORE, Pa.—In what probably should have triggered the bellowing of the on-campus fire horn, No. 6 Swarthmore College Men's Basketball put on one of the hottest shooting performances imaginable en route to a 105-65 victory over No. 12 MIT in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night.
With the resounding win, the Garnet advance to face No. 5 Randolph-Macon in Amherst, Mass. on the campus on Amherst. The host and seventh-ranked Mammoths will take on No. 14 Nichols in the other Sweet 16 matchup.
Swarthmore simply could not miss on Saturday night and shot a scalding 88.9 percent from the floor in the first half, an insanely high percentage, sinking 24-of-27 attempts. Swarthmore finished the contest at 72.5 percent from the field. The Garnet started out by going 5-for-5 for the floor before missing a shot four minutes in. Then, the Garnet connected on their next 10 attempts, missed a basket and then hit their next eight shots before missing a shot near the buzzer in the first half.
Meanwhile, the Garnet stroke from 3-point range was perfect. Swarthmore went 10-for-10 from beyond the arc in the first half and then sank its first three 3-pointers in the second half, setting a new NCAA Division III record for consecutive 3-pointers made in a game. The Garnet broke the old record of 11 made (PDF)set back in 1987.
Swarthmore's field goal percentage and 3-point percentage are also new Centennial Conference records (PDF)for a single game.
Sophomore guard Conor Harkins went a perfect 6-for-6 from 3-point range, splashed in all six of his triples in the first half. Harkins was one of four Garnet players to score in double-digits in a game where the Garnet scored the most they have all season.
Freshman George Visconti helped his case for being in the running for National Rookie of the Year by dropping in a team-high 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. He's averaging 11.7 points per game.
Cam Wiley, who coincidentally had all three of Swarthmore's missed shots in the first half, got the last laugh by scoring 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting and by eclipsing the 1,500-point mark for his career with 16:31 left to play in the second half. He dropped in his 21 points in just 19 minutes of action.
Big man Nate Shafer posted 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting with seven rebounds and two blocks. Ryan Ingramadded nine points, and Zac O'Dell pitched in six points, a team-high eight rebounds and four blocks.
With the Garnet barely missing, they left limited opportunities for MIT to gather any rebounds. The Garnet out-rebounded the Engineers 43-19.
By normal game standards, MIT shot fairly well in the first half, connecting on 48.4 percent of its shots. They cooled significantly in the second half (down to 20.7 percent) and just couldn't keep up with Swarthmore's torrid shooting.
Most of the Engineers' offense was funneled through AJ Jurko who went 9-for-22 and finished with a game-high 28 points.
Swarthmore never trailed in the game and led by double-digits just over three minutes in following a 12-2 run to start. An O'Dell layup 10 minutes in put Swarthmore ahead by 21 points, 38-17. Swarthmore carried a 25-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
A 25-2 run for the Garnet starting with a Wiley jumper at 17:27 in the second half and lasting for seven minutes put the game well out of reach.
Swarthmore will now look to follow up its record-setting performance against Randolph-Macon in the round of 16.