SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Swarthmore built an eight-point lead midway through the second half and held on to top McDaniel 69-68 in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action on Saturday.

Tim Stewart (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) tallied 25 points to lead the Green Terror (14-9, 9-7 CC), who clinched a spot in the upcoming conference tournament by virtue off losses by Muhlenberg and Ursinus. McDaniel will be either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed and play in the first round game on Wednesday, Feb. 25, pending the results of the final week of games.

Matt Brennan paced the Garnet (10-13, 6-10 CC) with 19 points.

Trailing 43-42 on a Kevin Yrizarr (Owings Mills, Md./Owings Mills) layup with 14:40 to play, Karl Barkley responded with one of 12 Swarthmore 3-pointers, putting the hosts in front for good with 14:26 on the clock and sparking a 9-0 run.

A Nic Martin (Hagerstown, Md./St. Maria Goretti) layup and two Stewart baskets trimmed the margin to 51-49 with 9:17 remaining before another Barkley triple and two Sam Lebryk free throws stretched the lead back to seven just 1:22 later.

Six straight points capped by a Phillip Perry (Crownsville, Md./Annapolis Area Christian) layup once again trimmed the deficit to one but, once again, Barkley hit a 3-pointer to push the lead back to four with 6:14 showing.

Clinging to a one-point edge, the Garnet tallied six straight points to open up a 65-58 lead with 3:33 remaining.

A Nick Perugino (Lewes, Del./Salesianum) 3-pointer made it a 67-65 game with 2:04 to play but two Zack Yonda free throws sealed the victory.

An Andrew Merlo (Rehoboth, Del./Cape Henlopen) 3-pointer capped a 7-1 start to the game for McDaniel.

The Garnet responded with an 8-0 run of its own to take a 9-8 edge with 13:19 showing.

Swarthmore opened up a lead as large as six through the rest of the first half en route to a 36-31 halftime advantage.

Merlo finished with 12 points and three assists.

McDaniel returns to action at home against No. 10 Johns Hopkins on Wednesday. Game time is 8 p.m.

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