Wiley helps Swarthmore gain the Sweet 16 round
Despite being at home a year ago, Swarthmore could not get to the NCAA Division III men’s basketball Sweet 16.
The Garnet had to go on the road to accomplish that feat.
Swarthmore knocked off host Wesleyan in a battle of nationally ranked teams Saturday, 97-75, to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in program history.
The Cabrini men’s and women’s teams were not as fortunate in their bids to move on. The Cabrini men dropped a 96-88 decision to Springfield while the women’s team fell to Scranton, 55-46.
No. 14 Swarthmore scored the first seven points of the game, and then went on a 13-2 run later in the first half. That was part of a 52-point eruption in the first half that put the Garnet (24-5) firmly in control.
No. 15 Wesleyan (227) did cut the deficit to 63-60 on a Jordan Bonner 3-pointer with 11:49 to play in the game, but the Garnet went on a 19-1 tear to put the game away and advance to the third round against No. 16 Plattsburg State.
Cam Wiley poured in a game-high 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Swarthmore. Zac O’Dell added 18 points and eight boards. Nate Shafer provided 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists off the bench, while Zack Yonda (13 points) and Conor Harkins (12) also scored in double figures for the Garnet. SPRINGFIELD 96, CABRINI 88 » Springfield (20-8) shot 10-for-12 from 3-point land in the first half to open up a 44-35 halftime lead and finished 16-for26 from deep.
“They shot the lights out,” Cabrini coach Tim McDonald said. “If you would have told me before the game that they would shoot 10-for-12 from three and we would only be down nine, I would have signed up for that.”
Cabrini (25-4) fought back and cut it to 8986 with 57 seconds to play, but Springfield shot 7-for-8 from the free throw line to seal the victory.
Keith Blassingame led Cabrini with 25 points. Tyheim Monroe added 18, Deryl Bagwell 16 and Brett Foster 12. NEUMANN 89, MEDAILLE 85 » Tyaire Hudson scored 32 points and freshman Aaron Johnson-Chavis added 20 points and 10 rebounds Saturday as Neumann defeated Medaille College 89-85 and advanced to the ECAC championship game in Wilkes-Barre.
Billy Cassidy, a Friends Central grad from the Primos section of Upper Darby, added 15 points for the Knights, who led 48-44 at the half. Medaille was up 85-84 with 1:55 left to play, but JohnsonChavis gave the Knights the lead with a jumper. Two free throws by Hudson and one by Raquan Brown-Johnson sealed it for the Knights (23-8).
Neumann will take on Widener University in the title game at 1. WIDENER 87, WILKES 65 » The Pride (17-11) turned to its defense to make the ECAC Division III championship an all-Delaware County affair with Neumann.
Widener held the Colonels to 25 points and 1-for-9 shooting from 3-point range in the first half to open up a 24-point advantage. That was good enough to earn the Pride a spot in Sunday’s final.
Tyler Drews paced a balanced attack with 18 points. Sardayah Sambo added 17 points and Elijah Boyd 13. Seven players scored at least seven points for Widener.
Women’s Basketball
Chelsea Woods scored 15 points and Alyssa Monaghan (Bonner & Prendie All-Delco) added 13 to lift Saint Josephs to a 58-49 victory over St. Louis Saturday in an Atlantic 10 semifinal game. The Hawks will thus play for their first Atlantic 10 women’s basketball title since 2013.
Saint Joseph’s (18-13) held the Billikens to just 18 points in the first half. Woods also led the Hawks with 10 rebounds. The Billikens were led by allconference guard Jackie Kemph with 17 points, but most of it in trash time. She had two points at halftime.
“We knew we had to play with pace today. They’re a very highly explosive offensive team,” Saint Joseph’s head coach Cindy Griffin
said. “We executed the game plan as well as we set it out to be.”
The victory sends sixthseeded Saint Joseph’s into a title game showdown with fifth-seeded George Washington, who toppled top-seeded Dayton earlier in the day 58-53. SCRANTON 55, CABRINI 46 » The host Royals used a 33-point second half to foil Cabrini’s bid to reach the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 for the first time.
The Cavaliers (26-3) had a 25-22 lead at halftime before No. 10 Scranton (28-1) got its offense in gear. Mackenzie Mason and Emily Sheehan scored 10 points each in the second half to spark the comeback. Mason led the Royals with 16 points, while Sheehan finished with 14 points.
Meghan Matthews took scoring honors for the Cavaliers with 14 points. Nomi Washington pitched in with nine points. TEMPLE 72, WICHITA STATE 59 » Freshman Emani Mayo collected 20 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals as the No. 11 seeded Owls shocked the sixthseeded Shockers in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference tournament.
The win also was No. 200 for Temple coach Tonya Cardoza and sends the Owls (12-18) into Sunday’s quarterfinals against Central Florida.