SWARTHMORE, Pa.—No. 7 Swarthmore College Men's Basketball locked up the top seed in the Centennial Conference for the third season in a row, securing hosting rights to the conference tournament on Feb. 22 and 23.
Swarthmore wrapped up the regular season with a 77-59 win over McDaniel College to clinch the top seed. The Garnet (22-3 overall, 15-3 Centennial) trailed eight minutes into the contest but darted out a 20-4 run (that included a two-handed dunk from
Zac O'Dell) over the six minutes to gain a comfortable lead. Swarthmore's lead remained in double-digits for the remainder of the game.
O'Dell led the Garnet, stuffing the stat sheet with 20 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks, three assists, two steals and no turnovers.
Conor Harkins dropped 17 points while shooting 5-for-8 from 3-point range. He also contributed five assists and four rebounds.
Senior
Cam Wiley connected on three triples to finish with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. The Garnet honored Wiley and fellow senior
Lee Martin prior to the start of Saturday's contest.
The Garnet shot a collective 50.8 percent from the floor and 35.5 percent from 3-point range. They only attempted six free throws and hit four of them.
McDaniel made 50 percent of its 3-point attempts but went just 37.7 percent overall. DJ Harper led the visitors with 18 points.
Swarthmore will host the winner of the Centennial's four- and five-seed game at 8 p.m. on Friday in the semifinals. Should the Garnet win, they would advance to the championship game at 7 p.m. on Saturday.