By Victoria Ripple
Elm Staff Writer
Last Wednesday the Shoremen Basketball team visited the Haverford Fords, but took a close conference loss with a score of 78-75.
At halftime the Fords led with a score of 34-27, holding Washington College to 11-of-34 shooting from the field and 0-for-8 from the three point range. The Shoremen were looking to come out strong the second half, but the Fords were still leading 40-30 with 16:55 on the clock. WC fought back, going on a 10-1 run with 13:00 left, cutting the lead to 41-40. Haverford answered by scoring 11 of the next 14 points making their lead recognizable with a score of 52-43 with 9:46 left in the second half.
Junior Sal Schittino came up with a huge three pointer with 1:56 left to go cutting Haverford’s lead to 72-69. To follow Schittino’s three, sophomore Charlie McShane hit one free throw making the score 72-70 at 1:11. The Fords hit a bucket, but shortly after Schittino made a lay-up with 48.2 seconds to go with a score of 74-72. Junior Chris Olsen was fouled and went 1-for-2 at the line with 17.9 seconds left. However, Haverford still lead by one. To end the game the Fords were fouled and made both free throws bringing the final score to 78-75 with 10.7 seconds left. Breslin and freshman Donovan Womack missed two three pointers in the last few seconds of the game.
For the Shoremen, Breslin had 16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. Schittino grabbed 15 points in the loss while Olsen had a career-best of 13 points. WC shot 39% from the field and 61% from the free throw line. The Shoremen also forced 18 turnovers while only committing 10 in the loss.
Last Saturday WC had another tough conference loss when they visited the Dickinson Red Devils.
Dickinson came out strong leading by seven points only 3:47 into the game. The Red Devils led 20-13 with 11:45 in the first half until WC took a 8-0 run claiming their first lead of the game at 21-20. WC held the lead at 28-27 until Dickinson went on an 8-0 run to take the lead 35-28 with 4:10 left in the first half. With 2:23 on the clock Dickinson took their biggest lead of the half off free throws making it 39-31. The Red Devils were up 39-33 at the half and came out even stronger leading 45-35 only 1:06 into the second half.
Schittino hit a three pointer with 15:23 to go, cutting the lead to 46-42. Following Schittino’s three, Dickinson answered with their own three making the score 52-44 with 13:59 on the clock. Breslin’s next 4 points would cut Dickinson’s lead to 52-48 with 12:24 to go; however, Dickinson would score the next 9 points bringing their lead to a powerful score of 61-48 with 9:08 left in the second half. WC cut the lead at 6:24 to 62-54 right before Breslin would contribute a steal followed by a lay-up to add 2 more points to the board. The Red Devils hit a three pointer at 1:52 while also adding a win to their record. The closest WC got in the final 11 minutes was by 8 points.
Schittino had 20 points, shot 7-for-10 from the floor, 4-for-5 from the 3 point line, and hit both free throws. Breslin contributed 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists in the game, while Olsen added 11 points. WC shot 42% from the field, 42% behind the arc, and 67% from the foul line. The Shoremen also had 16 turnovers to Dickinson’s 19.
With the two tough losses, WC drops to 6-15 overall and 5-9 in conference. With the chances of making the playoffs becoming harder, junior Mark DeBoy still has confidence in his team. “We aren’t technically out of the playoff race, but we have to play every game like it’s our game to win. If we win out and still don’t make the playoffs, it will be a good building block for next year. But we want to win these games to keep our playoff chances alive, and to send our lone senior, Dylan out on a winning streak. He works hard for us every day. He deserves to finish the season strong.”
Come support the Shoremen as they play in their last home game of the season and honor senior Dylan Bernstein Saturday at 4:00 against Gettysburg.
February 11, 2011
Volume LXXXI Issue 14