The Muhlenberg men's basketball team continued its fight for the final Centennial Conference playoff spot with an 88-85 victory at Haverford.
 
Needing a win to remain at least one game behind fifth-place Dickinson, the Mules (10-12, 8-7 CC) trailed the Fords by as many as seven in the second half but fought back to go up 82-78 with 2:47 left. The Fords (6-16, 2-13 CC) proceeded to tie the game again before senior Alex Mitton laid in an offensive rebound, making it 84-82 with 1:05 remaining.
 
A three-pointer gave Haverford the lead again. Needing a basket, senior Nick Rindock dished a pass down low to Mitton, who sank the layup to put his team back ahead 86-85.
 
Junior Brendan Hughes then came up with a big steal on defense, and senior Owen McLeod sank two free throws to help close out the important victory.
 
McLeod scored a career-high 22 points to lead all players and pulled down seven rebounds. Hughes and sophomore Matt Gnias each contributed 12 points, and senior JeanLee Baez added nine points and seven rebounds.
 
Mitton (pictured above), who finished with eight points, provided Muhlenberg with an early 10-8 lead by tipping in a missed shot. The two teams traded baskets before back-to-back Hughes triples put the Mules in front by six.
 
The Mules extended their advantage to as many as eight on a Erik Werheim jumper before Haverford battled back to tie the game at 30-30. A McLeod free throw gave Muhlenberg a lead it would keep through halftime.
 
A Rindock layup made it 52-46 Mules, but Haverford proceeded to score nine straight points to take a lead it would hold until a Baez layup and two McLeod free throws completed Muhlenberg's comeback with 4:23 left.
 
The Mules forced 16 Haverford turnovers in the game compared to only nine they committed.

With the victory, Muhlenberg achieved at least 10 wins for the 35th time in the program's last 36 seasons.