SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The Dickinson men's basketball team hung tough early on Saturday afternoon at Tarble Pavillion, but the host Swarthmore College built onto a ten-point halftime advantage and held the Red and White to just 27.5% shooting from the floor to claim a 60-45 Centennial Conference win.
The visitors were out of the gates fast with
Andrew Gostovich finishing at the rim just 23-seconds in. However, over the next seven minutes Michael Caprise, Vinny DeAngelo, Aidan Godfrey and Eddie Paquette mounted an 11-2 charge for an 11-4 lead causing a Dickinson timeout with 12:22 left. Out of the break
Skyler Venezia found
Nate Ogbu for three and
Aaron Bailey split a pair on the line to pull within 11-8 less than a minute later. Buckets from Caprise and DeAngelo pushed it out to 14-8, before
Matt Mahoney delivered from downtown. Unfortunately, for the Devils baskets by Caleb Aurelien, Caprise, and Godfrey went on a 9-3 run to open up a 23-14 advantage as a trey by Venezia was the only DC points. Jumpers for both Ogbu and Venezia gave the visitors life cutting the deficit down to 25-18. Swarthmore extended their lead going into the break with a triple out of the hands of Paquette to make it 28-18 through 20 minutes.
After Godfrey and Paquette pushed it to 31-18, two foul shots from Gostovich brought the gap to 31-20 with just over two minutes gone. Nyle Coleman, Caprise and DeAngelo continued to hold DC at-bay opening up a double-digit cushion at 36-22, before layups for both Ogbu and Venezia along with free throws by
Luis Ruiz kept the Red and White around 39-28. Dickinson kept up the momentum with a triple out of the hands of
Brandon Wiercinski closing the deficit to just eight 39-31, but DeAngelo went right back down the court and stuck a three-pointer of his own to start a 7-0 charge to bring the lead up to 46-31 with 8:31 left. A Venezia triple stunted the Garnet run for a brief moment, before another 7-2 romp made it 53-36 as
Ryan Leskauskas supplied the only DC bucket. Two foul shots by Caprise bumped the margin to 55-36, but a three from Mahoney along with baskets from Gostovich and Ogbu trimmed the gap to 57-43. The Garnet would tally three of the remaining five points of the game through Aurelien and Coleman to set the 60-45 final.
Red Devil Leaders
Points - Venezia (10), Ogbu (9)
Assists - Bailey, Gostovich, Mahoney, Ogbu, Ruiz and Venezia (1)
Rebounds - Ogbu (5), Gostovich (4)
Garnet Leaders
Points - Caprise and Godfrey (13), DeAngelo and Paquette (10)
Assists - Caprise and Hanson (4)
Rebounds - Paquette (11), Caprise (7)
Next on the Court
Dickinson (6-11, 3-7 Centennial) return to the home floor on Thursday night at 8pm when they welcome the Mules of Muhlenberg College to the Kline Center for a big conference clash.
