Swarthmore blows out St. John Fisher, looks to Sweet 16
Swarthmore College barreled into the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Division III tournament with a no-look 101-78 triumph over St. John’s Fisher Saturday night at the Tarble Pavilion.
The reward for the Garnet, ranked seventh by D3Hoops.com, is a chance to settle the score next week with fifth-ranked Keene State, who nudged them from the playoffs last year.
Keene State beat Tufts, 77-72, in the second round Saturday, and after eliminating the Garnet, 8483, in the first round here last year, rest assured they have the Garnet’s attention.
“Keene State is a really good team that’s got some talented players,” said Centennial Conference player of the year Vinny DeAngelo, who scored 22 points, grabbed eight boards and distributed nine assists. “They got the best of us. Obviously, we want to get them back. I’m hoping we can go out and execute and keep on dancing. Yeah, it hurts, and it stays with you, and it helps you prepare throughout the offseason. So, we’re just hoping to use that fuel to prepare for next week.”
The loss to Keene State was a low point for DeAngelo, the product of Sun Valley, as well as Garnet seniors George Visconti, Colin Shaw and Julian Levin, the latter the last remnants from the 201819 squad that became the first in school history to reach the D3 championship game. The Garnet is accustomed to longer runs in the tournament. Certainly not losing at home to open it.
Where the Sweet 16 venue is for the Garnet is up to the NCAA tournament committee, although sources indicted there’s better than a 50-50 chance Swarthmore hosts. The Garnet is 26-3 overall and 16-0 at Tarble this season. Keene State is 28-1.
But back to Saturday. The Garnet never was threatened after scoring the first 10 points of the game. While the Cardinals played better defense than Garnet firstround victim SUNY-Delhi, they were unable to rotate to open three-point shooters.
The Garnet made 10 of 16 from beyond the arc. Eddie Paquette was 3-for-3 from downtown for the Garnet while DeAngelo, Cal Hanson and Colin Shaw all drilled a pair of treys to grease the skids.
Hanson, a freshman, had a career-high 23 points in the first half, Paquette 11 of his 15 for the Garnet, who went over 100 points for the first time this season.
“The shots were there, and the shots were falling in,” Hanson said. “As a team we put it on them from start to finish.”
The Garnet led by as many as 19 points before settling into a 5229 lead at the intermission.
The game was effectively over when the Garnet scored the first 10 points of the second half. DeAngelo and Hanson scored five points each to stake the Garnet to a 62-39 bulge. The Cardinals can think about it on the five-hour bus trip back to Rochester, N.Y.
The Cardinals are an interesting team from Brendan McRoy, who led them with 22 points, to Connor Williams, the 7-foot, 360-pound forward who has Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals with Leaf Trading Cards, DXL Big + Tall clothing and T-shirt companies. Big Cozy, as he’s known, collected one point and two rebounds in three minutes Saturday.
The Garnet are an intriguing mix of veterans and youth.
Kosmalski laughed off a suggestion the Garnet might use the time off before the Sweet 16 round for non-basketball purposes.
Count on him showing his players video of the loss last year to Keene State … about 100 or so times.
“What they did in that game from a game-planning, psychological level, it was the best we ever faced,” Kosmalski said of the Owls. “Nothing but respect for them. They’ve had a tremendous year, so it’s going to be an awesome challenge. Different year, different team. We’ve got to look at the film and remember the lessons from last year and hopefully use them next week to do better than we did last year.”
Cardinals coach Mike Grosodonia II, who is closing in on 200 career victories, got an up close and personal look at the Garnet Saturday. They’re the best his squad has played and in his opinion, have the stuff to reach the Final Four in Fort Wayne, Ind.
“If they shoot it like they did tonight they’re going to have a real good chance,” Grosodinia said. “They just play really hard, their
transition is really tough to defend against, they fill the lanes, their spacing is great. They’ve got
size, they’ve got shot makers and they’re tough to guard the way they use their spacing.”