CHESTERTOWN — The Shoremen are not in the Centennial Conference cellar as predicted by the conference’s head coaches in their preseason poll — at least not at this juncture.
On Saturday, behind the double-digit scoring of Nolan Waldon, Ethan Schwantes and Precieux Tshibangu, Washington’s men rallied in the second half to send their guests from Haverford home with a double-digit loss.
The final count was Washington 63, Haverford 53.
WC improved to 2-3 in the conference, ahead of four other schools, and 7-10 on the season.
Haverford (5-12) also is 2-3 in the CC, one spot behind Washington in the standings of the 10-school conference that is currently led by Johns Hopkins at 5-0 followed by Ursinus and preseason favorite Gettysburg both at 4-1.
In the Washington-Haverford matchup on Saturday, Waldon, a 6-foot freshman guard from Philadelphia, put up a game high of 18 points.
Seniors Schwantes and Tshibangu added 15 and 12 points, respectively, and freshman Ben Costello came off the bench to contribute eight points and a team-leading six rebounds.
At halftime, with the Shoremen only trailing, 27-24, despite shooting just 31% from the field compared to the Fords’ 52%, Waldon led all scorers with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
Washington outscored Haverford in the second half, 39-26, with Schwantes and Tshibangu combining for 21 points.
The Fords led by as many as seven points on four occasions after intermission, the last time at 43-36 on a pair of Logan Brown free throws with 14 minutes, 29 seconds remaining.
Washington responded with a run of 12 unanswered points over the next 2:50 to surge ahead, 48-43, on a Schwantes jumper in the paint with 11:39 to go.
Tshibangu swished a pair of threes in the game-changing run; his field goal from outside the arc at 12:42 gave the Shoremen the lead for good at 44-43.
Haverford was able to get to within one, 50-49, on Luke Phillips’ fast-break jumper with 8:19 remaining, but the rally was short-circuited as Washington scored 13 of the final 17 points to salt away the win.
The Fords, who shot 42% from the floor for the game, spaced out their scoring among 10 players led by Brown and Gaven Marr with 10 points apiece.
Washington’s field goal percentage improved dramatically in the second half — from 31% to 48% — for an overall 40%.
What made the difference for the winners was their 77% shooting from the stripe — 17-of-22 overall, including 10-of-14 in the second half.
Washington also outscored Haverford in points off turnovers, 22-2.
NEXT UP: Washington is home tonight against Franklin & Marshall. The Diplomats are 3-2 in the Centennial Conference and 11-6 overall. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
In the preseason coaches’ poll, F&M was picked to finish third.
