ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The No. 5 seeded Washington College Shoremen were defeated by the No. 4 seeded Muhlenberg Mules, 84-72, in the opening round of the 2020 Centennial Conference Tournament on Tuesday evening at Memorial Hall. The Shoremen finished the season with a record of 10-16 and went 8-10 in the conference. Senior Alec Lewis hit four treys and paced Washington with 19 points in his final career game. The Mules, who will play at top-seeded Swarthmore in the semifinals, improved to 19-17 overall after an 11-7 league finish.

 How It Happened

- Muhlenberg jumped out to a 12-2 advantage and never trailed in the contest. Dan Gnias splashed a deep trifecta and then converted a driving layup to cap the initial run at the 15:18 mark.
- Washington settled down nicely and managed to close within 13-9 after a jumper by Dallas Marshall with just under 13 minutes left in the stanza. Lewis ignited the run with a triple from the right wing and Austin Allen completed a driving layup to account for the scoring.
-The Shoremen still trailed just 18-13 at the 11:27 mark, however, the hosts rattled off 11 straight points to widen their lead to 29-13 with 9:10 remaining.  Gaines scored six points during the stretch for the Mules.
- Muhlenberg took their largest lead of the half, 35-17, after Gaines hit two from the stripe at the 5:57 mark.
-The visitors got as close as 37-25 after Patrick Devitt's long-distance bomb from the top of the circle with 4:03 left. It capped an 8-2 run, which included a triple by Marshall and a jumper by Allen.
- The hosts settled for a 45-29 halftime lead as they converted 13-of-24 field goal attempts (54.2 percent, which included 6-of-9 from deep. The Shoremen hit 12-of-28 attempts overall (42.9 percent)
-Washington scored the first five points of the second half to close within 45-34 at the 18:15 mark. Dilyn Becker hit a jumper and Daniel Brown completed a conventional three-point play. It was the closest that the Shoremen were able to get for the remainder of the contest.
-A 7-2 mini-run for the Mules extended their lead to 52-36 with 16:19 left but Marshall made a jump hook and Becker followed with a steal and layup to make it 52-40 with 14:05 left.
- The Shoremen were still within striking distance, 59-47, after Allen hit two free throws with 11:55 remaining.
- The hosts, however, answered with 10 straight points to take a commanding 69-47 lead with 8:17 remaining. Gaines and Dallas Hoffman stuck back-to-back triples to cap the run.
- Washington did not go down without a fight as they managed to get within 12 points down the stretch but could not get any closer.

 For the Shoremen
- Alec Lewis scored a team-high 19 points and hit 4-of-9 field goals, including 4-of-7 from deep. He also went a perfect 7-for-7 from the line,
- Daniel Brown just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine boards.
- Dallas Marshall added 12 points while Dilyn Becker came up with nine points, two blocks, and a pair of steals.
- The Shoremen went 25-of-57 from the floor (43.9 percent), were 7-for-22 (31.8 percent) from 3-point range and were 15-for-25 (60 percent) from the line.

For the Mules
- Dan Gaines recorded a game-high 21 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Matt Gnias added 18 points and Dallas Hoffman added 14 points (4-of-6 3's)
- The hosts made 28-of-53 attempts (52.8 percent), went 11-for-21 (52.4 percent) from three, and were 17-for-21 (81 percent) from the line.

Note
- The Shoremen competed in their second straight conference tournament.  The last time they played in consecutive tournaments was four in a row from 1997-2000 under head coach Tom Finnegan.