MIDDLETOWN, Ct.—A 31-3 explosion in the first half from No. 14 Swarthmore College Men's Basketball propelled the Garnet to a 90-63 victory in Friday's NCAA Tournament first-round game.
Their opponent, the New England College Pilgrims (21-7), were appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time and led 10-8 four minutes into the game. However, Swarthmore then ran out to its 31-3 run which started with a Jim Lammers 3-pointer and included five more triples in that span. In all, the Garnet connected on 15-of-32 (46.9 percent) of its 3-pointers, the most this season since hitting 20 threes in the first game of the year. Freshman and Connecticut native Conor Harkins led Swarthmore with six 3-pointers (on 12 attempts) for 18 points.
Cam Wiley had a team-high 23 points for Swarthmore, shooting 9-for-16 from the floor, and surpassed the 1,000 points mark for his career. Wiley, who need 12 points entering the game to reach the milestone, got there with a layup with 7:41 to go in the first half. He is the 22nd player in program history to reach the millennium mark.
Zack Yonda, who joined the 1,000-points club last season, reached 20 points for the fifth time this year. Yonda hit four 3-pointers and went 7-of-10 from the floor.
Zac O'Dell tallied eight points and a game-high 11 rebounds. He had two blocks and senior Robbie Walsh had three.
Swarthmore out-rebounded New England 48-35.
Swarthmore's huge first-half run gave it a 48-21 lead at halftime. New England couldn't make up any ground, scoring 42 points in the second half.
The Garnet advance to the NCAA Tournament second round for the second straight year and will face the regional bracket host Wesleyan University, ranked No. 15 in the country. Wesleyan advanced to the second round after demolishing Southern Vermont College 101-71.