HAVERFORD, Pa. - The Haverford College men's basketball (5-4) team registered a 73-66 victory over visiting Drew (3-5) Wednesday night inside the Gooding '84 Arena. The Fords received a double-double effort from Josh Love, as the junior registered 15 points and ten rebounds on 6-for-13 shooting. Junior Ryan Trotter paced the Fords for most of the night, leading the team in minutes played with 34. Trotter finished the game with nine points, just over his season average of 8.6 points per game. The guard can impact the game in many ways, and his performance against Drew further confirmed his impact on the Fords. Trotter also collected seven boards and dished out nine assists on the evening.
Harry Johnson continued his consistent play this season with 12 points and five rebounds. His patience in the paint was vital, even going against Drew players who may have been taller than him. Gabriel Franklin (nine points) also got in on the scoring, as the Fords looked to get into a groove during the early minutes. Basketball is a game of runs, and this matchup featured many of them. It was a tight contest to start the first half as each team traded baskets leading to the game being tied 8-8 with 12:13 remaining on the clock.
Nick Kerkorian got the first run of the game started with his layup to make it 10-8 in favor of Haverford. Nick Stewart then knocked down a pair of free throws, with Franklin following that up with a made layup at the ten-minute mark. Love later knocked down a three to give Haverford a nine-point lead. The Fords largest lead of the half came after a pair of Charlie Mamlin free throws to make the score 23-13. After the first-half buzzer, the Fords went into the locker room with a seven-point advantage.
In many games this season, the opponents attempted to put pressure on the Fords in the early minutes of the second half. Drew increased their pressure after Haverford built a 14-point lead four minutes into the half. This marked the start of Drew's run as they knocked down shots from beyond the arc and forced turnovers. At the 12:54 mark of the second half, the Fords lead was down to just one. Haverford stayed composed and slowly built the lead back up after trading baskets with Drew for a few minutes. Finally, a Johnson layup made it 59-51 in favor of the Fords, and the team held off Drew comfortably with calming late-game management.
Junior Jackson Ryan registered 28 minutes in just his second game back with the team. Ryan finished the game with seven points and six rebounds. The 6-2 guard looked more comfortable in this matchup as he made a couple of shifty moves to get easy lay-ups in critical moments.
After the game, Trotter attributed the win to solid execution against the pressure. "We've been working in practice a lot, handling pressure and being strong with the ball," he said. "I think as a team, we did a great job today."
The way the Fords handled the full-court pressure proved to be the difference because for many stats in the box score between the two teams, the totals were just about even. Haverford and Drew matched each other in turnovers (10), bench points (21), fouls (19), and three-pointers made (6). The Fords were able to make more shots while shooting less than Drew. The team finished the game shooting 48.3 percent from the field.
Haverford improves to 24-15 all-time against Drew, as the two sides met for the first time since 2008. The Fords will next wrap up the 2021 portion of the schedule on Saturday, December 11, as men's basketball hosts Gettysburg at 3 p.m, following a rematch of the last three Centennial Conference championship games on the women's side at 1 p.m.