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| Swarthmore athletics file photo |
Swarthmore pulled away from JHU after halftime, Mount Union finished a two-game sweep of Marietta and the Johnnies and Tommies remained on track for a Saturday rivalry throwdown in Wednesday's Division III men's basketball action.
Top-ranked Swarthmore broke open a close game with an 11-0 run to start the second half and put No. 7 Johns Hopkins away, 83-69. The Garnet hit seven of their first 10 shots in the second half, while JHU started in a 3-for-14 slump. Johns Hopkins had its 10-game winning streak snapped, while the Garnet extended their winning streak to 22. Conor Harkins scored a game-high 25 points for Swarthmore (22-0, 15-0) while Conner Delaney had 24 for JHU (19-3, 13-2). Hopkins was held to 38.2% from the floor (26-of-68) and connected on just 8-of-36 from 4-point range.
Mount Union finished off a sweep of Marietta in the OAC schedule, as the 11th-ranked Purple Raiders got past the No. 15 Pioneers 81-67 on Wednesday night. The Pioneers shot 9-for-32 from the floor and just 1-for-13 from beyond the arc in the first half and were not able to get over the top in the second half. Marietta (18-4, 12-3) battled its way back into the game with a 20-5 run that spanned nearly seven minutes of play and trimmed the Mount Union lead to 56-51 with just over eight minutes remaining. The Pioneers got it to 66-62 with 3:32 left and 66-64 just 35 seconds later, but the Purple Raiders (19-3, 14-1) ripped off nine consecutive points to put the game away. Nathan Bower-Malone led all scorers with 21 points for the Purple Raiders, while Collen Gurley hit five 3-pointers and finished with 19 points and five rebounds. Mount Union and Marietta started the day off 1-2 in the Great Lakes Region rankings.
St. John's and St. Thomas, No. 2 and 4 in the D3hoops.com Top 25, but in the opposite order as 3 and 1 in the NCAA's West Region rankings, remained on track for a huge showdown on Saturday. For the Johnnies, it was their 22nd consecutive win, with an easy 82-59 victory vs. Macalester (7-15, 4-13 MIAC), led by six scorers in double figures. Jubie Alade led the way with a team-high 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting, 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. The Tommies (20-2, 16-1 MIAC) had a bigger challenge from Bethel in a 65-60 win. UST led for the entire final 11:10, but the Royals (14-8, 11-6) kept it within a two-possession game until the end, when Jack Jenson hit a 3 in the closing seconds to make the final margin look closer. Sophomore Anders Nelson scored a game-high 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting, while Tommy Anderson had 12 points and four blocks in the win.
After seeing its 16-point lead trimmed to just three with under seven minutes to play, Dakota Wheeler knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers as WPI went on to defeat 19th-ranked Babson 75-56 in NEWMAC action. Babson, which is fifth in the initial NCAA regional rankings, had its six-game winning streak snapped to fall to 18-4 overall and 8-3 in league play. WPI, which is ranked sixth in the region, improves to 18-4 overall and 9-2 in the NEWMAC with its fourth straight win. Babson missed its final 11 shots from the floor.
Elmhurst's slide continued, as the No. 17 Blue Jays lost for the fourth time in five games, losing 85-73 at Illinois Wesleyan. Matthew Leritz scored 23 points and Doug Wallen added 21 as the Titans (15-7, 9-4 CCIW) played for the first time since standout freshman point guard Luke Yoder was lost to a broken hand. Elmhurst (18-5, 9-5) tied the game on three separate occasions in the second half before IWU took the lead for the final time with 12:15 remaining. IWU finished the game shooting 50 percent from the floor including 10-of-23 from beyond the arc.
Stevens protected its position as the top Atlantic team in the NCAA's first set of regional rankings with a 76-64 home win over DeSales. Kevin Florio led Stevens with 20 points, including five for six from three, and Alec DiPietratonio added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Ducks (18-4, 9-2 MAC Freedom). DeSales (15-7, 8-3 MAC Freedom), which was ranked fifth in the Atlantic, slips one game back of Stevens and Eastern in the conference standings. Stevens hosts Eastern on Saturday.
Wilmington finished the game on a 15-4 run to defeat Muskingum 79-74, putting a damper on a milestone night for the Fighting Muskies' Marcus Dempsey. The nation's leading scorer at 30.7 points per game, Dempsey surpassed the 2,000-point mark for his career with his first point of the game. He was held to 20 on the night, while Jeffery Mansfield led the Fightin' Quakers with 33.
For more from Wednesday's Division III men's basketball action, check out the list of headlines from game stories posted to D3hoops.com by Division III schools.