By Chrissy Segrest
Elm Staff Writer
During the first week back on campus for students, the Washington College Shoremen took on conference opponents Swarthmore College and Muhlenburg College. On Jan. 25, the No. 11 ranked Swarthmore Garnets topped WC. To rebound from the loss, WC took on Muhlenburg on Jan. 27, hopeful for a win, but lost by a narrow six points.
The game vs. Swarthmore started off with some quick points. Only 41 seconds in, sophomore Josh Porteous made the first basket to put WC on top. For the next four minutes, the Garnets ruled the court, tallying up 10 points to make it 10-2. Junior Kaiden Williams made a lay-up to boost the team morale, allowing WC to score seven more points. With only a few minutes left in the first half, Swarthmore scored four more points, making the score 34-17 heading into halftime. With 17:13 to go in the second half, WC trailed 42-20, but that quickly changed.
Porteous shifted the tone and helped his team, scoring eight points and bringing Swarthmore’s lead down to 14. The Shoremen outscored the Garnets 30-28 in the second half, but ultimately it wasn’t enough to bring home the win.
Porteous scored 12 points and senior Tas Dixon had seven rebounds, as well as a contribution of 13 points.
Moving on from the loss, WC headed to Muhlenberg. Dixon started the Shoremen off with a lay-up, which allowed the team to muster a 20-4 lead only a few minutes into the game. The Mules took charge with a 15-2 run, but the Shoremen responded.
Sophomore Dallas Marshall got it going again with a lay-up, which propelled the team to a 10-3 run of their own with 8:19 on the clock.
Muhlenburg fought for the ball and landed with a 10-0 run which gave them the lead at 41-38. Sophomore Austin Allen went for the jumper with only 20 seconds left in the half to cut the lead to only one. Freshman Cole Storm’s three-point attempt came up just short to end the first half trailing by a narrow one point.
The second half started out hot with WC taking a 15-4 run to give them a 66-55 advantage over the Mules with 10:09 left in the game.
With 5:31 remaining, The Mules took a 16-6 run of their own, putting them up 76-74 over WC. Freshman Barry McCormick made some free throws of his own, cutting the lead down to just one. With only 40 seconds to go in the game, the Mules mustered out a four-point lead, and then with only 16 seconds left they secured the win with two free throws to win 88-82.
Dixon had one of the best games in his career against the Mules: a career high of 21 points, 8-for-9 in field goals, and six assists.
Allen, who was named the Chestertown McDonald’s Player of the Game, had a career high of 19 points, 9-for-12 field goals, and five rebounds. Marshall had 18 points, six-for-seven field goals, six rebounds, and five assists. Porteous had 15 points and five rebounds as well.
McCormick knows the exhilaration that comes from winning, but also knows the value of a loss.
“[Losing] makes us want to work harder. We stay positive because we know we’re better than what we showed. We can come back from this,” he said.
The Shoremen will be celebrating their alumni on Saturday, Feb. 3. The alumni game is at noon and WC takes on conference opponent Ursinus at 4 p.m.