men’s basketball breaks records in win

Women’s Basketball Streak Snapped The Muhlenberg women’s basketball team had its seven-game winning streak snapped with a 71-67 loss at Alvernia. The Mules (14-3), who moved up to 22nd in the D3hoops.com poll released shortly after the game tipped off, were the second nationally ranked team from the Lehigh Valley to fall to the Crusaders; DeSales did earlier this month. Muhlenberg led 50-43 with less than nine minutes to play before Alvernia (10-6) went on a 14-1 run. The Crusaders made 10 of their last 13 field-goal attempts to pull out the win. Freshman Alexandra Chili led the Mules with 27 points. She made six three-pointers to increase her season total to 60, four short of the school record and the Centennial Conference freshman record. Sophomore Sheila Cook scored 16 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for her fifth career double-double. Senior Erin McSherry tied the school record for blocked shots in a game (six) for the third time. Click here for box score. Click here for complete stats.

Not much in the world is free. And hardly anything is perfect. Yet for one night, the Muhlenberg men’s basketball team combined both in a record-breaking performance.

The Mules set

Tozer contributed to the record by going 6-for-6 from the line. Muhlenberg came into the game seventh in the Centennial Conference in free-throw percentage.

school and Centennial Conference records by shooting a perfect 26-for-26 on free throws in their 73-65 win at Swarthmore.

The previous best perfect game from the line for Muhlenberg was 12-for-12 against West Virginia in 1944. The old CC record was a 21-for-21 effort by Ursinus vs. Lebanon Valley in 2003.

Muhlenberg came close to the NCAA Division III mark of 28-for-28, set by Albany against Potsdam State in 1994. Swarthmore’s 12-for-13 shooting from the line gave the two teams a combined 38-for-39, breaking the Division III record of 37-for-39 set by Muskingum and Ohio Wesleyan in 1981.

The Mules (9-7, 5-5) needed almost all of their precision at the line to put away a Garnet team that was hungry to snap a 12-game losing streak. Swarthmore (1-15, 0-10) led by three points at halftime and by as many as six in the second half.

Down 41-37 six minutes into the second half, Muhlenberg went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. Appropriately, the Mules tied the game on a pair of free throws by junior Ryan Foster and went ahead on two Spencer Liddic foul shots.

The Garnet whittled the lead to two twice in the last seven minutes but did not have a possession with a chance to tie, and – naturally – the Mules made all their free throws down the stretch to finish their three-game road trip with a record of 2-1.

Foster scored a career-high 25 points and led the parade from the foul line by going 11-for-11. Liddic finished with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and sophomore Evan Tozer came off the bench to score 12 points.
Click here for box score.
Click here for complete stats.