SWARTHMORE, PA.- The Wesleyan men's basketball team won their season opener over Haverford 83-78 Saturday. The Cardinals win the opener for the 6^th straight season, defeating the Fords by five in the opening round of the Swarthmore Classic. Wesleyan advances to 1-0 to start the year, while Haverford drops their first contest of the 2022-23 season.

The Cardinals were paced by two important returning pieces in Nicky Johnson '25 and Gabe Ravetz '23. Johnson returns for his second year as the starting point guard of Joe Reilly's squad, having started 21 of 29 games last season. The sophomore point guard dropped 16 points and seven rebounds in his team-leading 43 minutes of action. He also added a team-high three assists to go along with three steals on the defensive end. Ravetz also returns after started in 14 games last year for the Cardinals. He contributed a career high 22 points on 4-11 shooting. He got to the line religiously, going 12-16 from the charity stripe. He was valuable as a rebounder and defender too, recording six rebounds and four steals.

Haverford started the game hot, getting out to a 14-5 lead six minutes in. The Fords started 6-8 making a pair of triples, but the Cardinals quickly found their footing trimming the lead down to a single possession in the next few minutes before taking the lead with 3:16 left to go in the first half. Ravetz reeled off six straight free throws for the Cardinals to end the half, heading into the break tied with the Fords.

There were six lead changes to begin the second half, with both teams trading baskets. The Cardinals seemed like they had taken control midway through the half, extending the lead to 11 on a Jared Langs '25 layup with 7:22 to go. The Fords quickly responded with a 8-0 run finished off with a Brandon Banadda layup to trim the lead back to three. The teams would eventually trade free throws in the final minutes forcing overtime

In overtime the Cardinals took over to put the game away. Sam Pohlman '26 and Nicky Johnson '25 took over in the extra period, putting up six and five points respectfully in the final period to put away the Fords, 83-74.

The Fords had four scorers with at least 14 points, shooting 43% from the field as a team. They shot 11-27 (40.7%) from three while capitalizing on all seven of their free throws. The Cardinals had the trio of Johnson, Ravetz and Langs combine for 52, finishing shooting 43% as a team. They connected on four of 17 three-point attempts, getting to the line 37 times and making 25.

Wesleyan will return to action Sunday November 12^th where they will play the host Swarthmore in the final game of the Swarthmore Classic.