Sophomore Nets 23 Points in 74-64 Victory

SWARTHMORE, PA – Sophomore forward Charlie McShane (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford) scored 16 of his career-high and game-best 23 points in the first half as visiting Washington College topped host Swarthmore, 74-64, on Wednesday evening in Centennial Conference men's basketball action at Tarble Pavilion.  The Shoremen are now 4-3 overall and 3-1 in conference play, while the Garnet drop to 4-5 and 1-3 respectively.

Washington raced out to an 8-0 lead just 2:45 in on a layup by McShane as he scored five of the eight points in the opening 2:45.  The Garnet would charge back to trim the deficit to 19-18 on a Jordan Federer jumper with 10:55 to go in the first.  Swarthmore would take its first lead of the night with 7:43 remaining in the first half on a pair of free throws by Will Gates.  Freshman guard Donovan Womack (Newark, DE/Delcastle) would give WC the lead back at 21-20 with 7:37 left, its first points since the 12:02 mark.  Jay Kober gave the Garnet the lead back at 23-21 when he hit a three-pointer, but McShane scored on a layup to even the game at 23-23 with 6:55 left in the half.  Gates gave the hosts the lead back 25-23 on a lay-in at the 5:03 mark.  McShane gave WC the lead back at 26-25 on his third trifecta of the half with 3:46 left in the opening half.  After a Gates free throw tied it at 26-26 with 3:31 left, junior guard Kevin Breslin (Hagerstown, MD/St. Maria Goretti) cashed in on two free throws to make it 28-26 with 3:06 left and McShane drained his fourth from behind the arc with 1:54 left to extend the lead to 31-26.  Washington took a 31-28 lead into intermission. 

Washington scored the first four points of the second half to lead 35-28 just 71 seconds into the second half on a layup by junior guard Doug Holcombe (Medford, NJ/Shawnee).  Swarthmore scored the next five points to trim the lead to 35-33 on two free throws by Federer with 17:18 left, but McShane responded with his fifth from three-point range with 17:07 to go to make it a 38-33 game.  The Garnet would score the next three points to cut it to 38-36 with 15:31 remaining on a Federer free throw, but the Shoremen countered with a quick 6-0 run to lead 44-36 with 14:00 to go in the contest on a jumper by Breslin.  The spurt kick-started a 16-6 run to give WC a 54-42 lead with 10:36 remaining on a two-pointer by McShane. 

Swarthmore would cut it to seven points, 54-47, on a Ryan Carmichael jumper with 8:54 left, but three-point jumper by junior guard Sal Schittino (Ellicott City, MD/Loyola Blakefield) gave WC a 57-47 lead on 8:03 remaining in the second.  Gates would reduce the lead to 57-51 with 4:39 left on a jumper.  Washington led 58-52 when Breslin drew a foul and canned a pair from the charity stripe to give the visitors a 60-52 lead with 3:01 left.  Breslin would hit two more from the line to push the WC lead to 62-53 with 1:33 remaining in the game.  Senior guard Dylan Bernstein (Laytonsville, MD/Gaithersburg) netted two free throws to give WC a 64-54 lead with 1:11 to go, but Jordan Martinez hit a layup with 61 seconds remaining to trim the lead to 64-56.  Bernstein canned two more from the line to make it a 66-56 lead with 55 seconds left, but seven second later the Garnet got a three-pointer by Joe Keedy to trim the lead to 66-59.  Bernstein netted two more from the line, but Gates drained a triple to cut it to 68-62 with 32 seconds left.  Holcombe scored on a fast-break layup from Breslin to put WC back up eight at 70-62 with 25 ticks left before Federer got a layup with 16 seconds left to trim it to 70-64.  Bernstein drained two more from the line with 11 seconds and junior guard Mark DeBoy (Baltimore, MD/Mount St. Joseph) cashed in on the final two free throws of the night with just four seconds remaining to ice the win and provide the final margin.

In addition to his 23 points, McShane grabbed seven rebounds to tie his career-best to lead the team and totaled a game-best and career-high three blocks for WC.  Breslin scored 15 points, nine of which came after halftime.  Bernstein scored all eight of his points from the free throw line in the final 71 seconds and he also set a career-high with six steals to lead all players.  Schittino blocked a career-best two shots for the guests.  Four Shoremen handed out three assists. 

Gates scored a team-best 18 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds to lead the Garnet.  Federer and Martinez scored 12 points and 10 points respectively to give Swarthmore three players in double-digits in the game.  Two players dished out three assists for the hosts.

Washington shot 42% from the floor, 37% from three-point range and 78% from the free throw line, including a perfect 14-for-14 in the final 3:01.  Swarthmore shot 36% from the field, 22% from behind the arc and 67% from the charity stripe.  The Garnet held a 40-34 on the boards.

Washington forced 15 turnovers and turned it into 21 points, while Swarthmore turned over Washington 12 times, but could only score 10 points off the miscues.  The Garnet did enjoy a 26-16 edge in points in the paint.