Swarthmore dynamic in debut, cruises to easy win

SWARTHMORE >> Most college students can’t wait to get out of town when spring break rolls around. Campus usually is a ghost town minutes after the last class is dismissed.

But that wasn’t the case at Swarthmore Friday. Roughly 50 students put spring break on hold to witness a little history.

They were rewarded for their loyalty as the No. 25 Garnet added another first in what has been a season of firsts for the men’s basketball team.

Showing no sign of nervousness of playing in the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time the Garnet used a fast start in both halves to get past the College of Staten Island, 86-61, in the second game of a first-round doubleheader at Tarble Pavilion.

Swarthmore (23-5) scored the first six points and jumped out to a 17-4 lead in the first half before the CSI got its act together. By then, though, it was too late. The Dolphins (21-7) never got closer than eight points, and that was in the first half.

“Coach (Landry Kosmalski) always tells us that our big thing is to attack for 40 minutes,” 6-7 junior forward Robbie Walsh said. “We don’t take the foot off the gas pedal. We keep attacking them the entire game.”

The lead grew to 28 points before the Garnet settled for the 25-point victory to set up a secondround meeting with second-ranked Christopher Newport at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Captains (26-2) rolled over Morrisville State, 8145, in opener of Friday’s twin bill.

“We want to warm up hard and get out to a fast start, but regardless how it goes, we want to be good for the next four minutes and the next four minutes after that,” Kosmalski said. “We just want to take it round by round.”

The Garnet did win most of the rounds, thanks to a balanced attack on offense and a relentless drive on the defensive end.

Walsh collected 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead four players in double figures. Sam Lebryk hit all four of his 3-point attempts and finished with 16 points. Cam Wiley added 15 points and five assists, while Conestoga grad Zack Yonda chipped in with 13 points.

Frank Schettino of Staten Island led all scorers with 20 points.

Walsh’s work in the post allowed the Garnet to win the battle in the paint, 2818, and double up the Dolphins in the second-chance point category, 18-9.

“We were trying to get it inside,” Kosmalski said. “That’s always one of our keys, but against them we did feel like we had an advantage, and Robbie was doing a great job of getting really great position and not only scoring, but kicking it out as well. It’s pretty tough to defend when the ball is coming out from behind you. I think that’s why some of our guys got some good looks.”

Senior Chris Bourne worked inside for a layup and Lebryk followed with a 3-pointer to trigger a 10-2 run to start the second half. Meanwhile, the defense held Staten Island to 30 percent shooting overall and 27 percent from 3-point range in the second half to set up a meeting with the Captains for the right to go to the Super Regionals for the first time in program history.

Christopher Newport came into the tournament ranked No. 1 in Division III in scoring defense, allowing 56.4 points per game. Swarthmore was tied with Salisbury for 24th, giving up 66 points a game.

“It’s interesting that in the second round of the tournament you have two of the top defensive teams in the country,” Kosmalski said. “I hope it’s not like 32-30. Hopefully it will be a good game for everyone.”

“If we’re the 32, though,” Walsh wondered aloud... “We’ll take it,” Kosmalski said.