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After spending much of the past two weeks on the road, the F&M men’s basketball team finally returned home to the friendly confines of the Mayser Center for a showdown with Swarthmore.
Evidently, the Dips were eager to get back home, as they bounced the visiting Garnet 77-47 in front of an enthusiastic home crowd.
“We’ve been waiting for this ever since we went on the road trip,” Anthony Brooks ’10 said when asked what it felt like to finally play at home again. “We’re happy to come back and see our fans, be in our own gym, and play in front of people who actually enjoy seeing us.”
The game was never really in doubt, as the Diplomats relied on stifling defense to shut down a Swarthmore team that has been relegated to the bottom tier of the Centennial Conference standings all season long.
Except for the first four minutes of the game, the Diplomats held the lead securely throughout, never letting the Garnet get close.
By halftime, F&M had pushed their lead to 16 following a pair of James McNally ’11 free throws. In the second half, the lead was extended to 20 when Steve Tolliver ’11 converted a layup, and the lead hit 30 for the first time when Justin Driver ’13 converted a pair of free throws with just under six minutes remaining.
Despite the lopsided result, the game was far from a cakewalk. Throughout the game, physical play was evident on both sides, with both teams committing more than 10 fouls, including a pair of technicals assessed in the second half.
According to head coach Glenn Robinson, while the physicality that was on display Saturday afternoon is never something he wants to see, it was good to experience that type of game, and he attributed some of the physicality to frustration on the part of Swarthmore.
“I don’t enjoy [these physical games],” Robinson said. “But I do think you have to be able to play in all types of games. Swarthmore got frustrated because things weren’t going their way… they were trying to make adjustments to play against us and I think they then got frustrated because they weren’t working.”
The dominant performance against Swarthmore caps off a successful week that saw F&M win both their important conference games.
Earlier in the week on Wednesday night, F&M traveled down to Baltimore, Maryland to face a tough Johns Hopkins team. The game held some serious conference implications, as both teams currently sit atop the conference standings.
Even though Robinson felt like the team played some lackluster basketball, the Dips were still able to escape with a nail biting victory, downing the Blue Jays 53-50.
“We really did not play well [against Johns Hopkins],” Robinson said. “We played phenomenally well at the end of the game, but really did not play well in the first half at all. We were behind by eleven, and I’m still not sure how we cut it to five…we just gutted it out.”
Looking at the stats, it is hard to dispute Robinson’s claims.
F&M shot a paltry 29% from the field, including hitting only a quarter of their three point shots. In addition, the Blue Jays established a firm lead against F&M in the first half, something that most Diplomat opponents haven’t been able to do.
While Robinson was correct in saying that the Dips did not play up to their potential down in Baltimore, he was also correct when he said that the team was able to get a gutsy win.
After not leading at any point during the first half, F&M finally grabbed its first lead of the game about five minutes into the second half when McNally put together a great string of plays.
McNally stole the ball and, after missed shot by Brooks, he was able to secure an offensive rebound and put the ball back up and convert a crucial layup that gave the Dips their first lead of the night at 29-28.
While F&M was able to snag the lead, it was never safe, as the two teams kept swapping leads until about a minute and a half remained in the contest.
However, as time ticked away, F&M hit all of their critical free throws to put the game on ice. Georgio Milligan ’12 and Mike Baker ’11 scored four of the final six points, all of which came from the charity stripe.
When asked about the game, Brooks classified it as a confidence booster, and he gave the solid team play all the credit for the tough win.
“Any win in the conference is a confidence booster,” Brooks said. “[Johns Hopkins] came out and played hard. They had an early lead on us, they had us down, but as a team we just stuck together. We played as a team and came out on top.”
The two wins this week push the F&M record to 16-3 overall and 10-2 in the conference, which gives them sole possession of the top spot in the Centennial Conference standings.
F&M now turns right around and heads on the road again for another crucial Centennial Conference matchup, this time traveling to Ursinus to take on the Bears. Ursinus is currently second in the conference (13-6 overall, 9-3 CC), and F&M was able to hold on for a 78-74 win at home back in early December.
When asked about what it would take to keep the winning streak alive, Brooks said it was important to take it one game at a time and to work hard whenever they stepped on the court.
“We just have to take it one day at a time,” Brooks said. “Come out, just practice hard everyday, play hard every time we come out on the court whether it’s a game or not. If we play like [we did against Swarthmore] we’ll go deep into the conference playoffs and hopefully the NCAA tournament.”
After their trip to Ursinus, the Dips will return home on Saturday for a showdown with the Mules of Muhlenberg at 4 pm. Over break, F&M trounced the Mules in Allentown, 80-58, and will be looking to do the same at home this time around.
