The Muhlenberg men's basketball team moved closer to a Centennial Conference playoff berth with a decisive 71-50 win against regionally ranked Haverford.

With three games remaining in the regular season, the Mules (16-6, 9-6) are in fourth place in the CC, two games ahead of Ursinus and three up on Gettysburg. They need to win only one of their remaining games, or have Gettysburg lose one, to secure the berth.

Junior Spencer Duke scored a game-high 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting in 19 minutes off the bench. Sophomore Dan Gaines finished with 13 points and senior Matt Gnias added 12. 

The defense did a tremendous job on a team that came in averaging 75.8 points per game, holding the Fords (16-6, 11-4) to a season low in points. Sophomore Nate Henty Brown blocked five shots and pulled down 11 rebounds.

Muhlenberg never trailed against the Fords, who earlier in the day came in at No. 8 in the first NCAA regional rankings of the season. It was 9-8 five minutes into the game before the Mules went on a 10-0 run to gain some separation. Included in the run was one of two three-point plays by Duke (pictured above) in the game.

Haverford never truly recovered and trailed by double digits for most of the remainder of the first half. Muhlenberg led 36-27 before Gaines and Gnias hit back-to-back threes in the final 40 seconds of the half for a 15-point lead at the break.

The Fords never got the deficit to single digits in the second half.

Gaines added seven assists to his 13 points, becoming the first Muhlenberg player since 2013 to reach triple figures in assists in a season. He leads the CC with 106.

The victory gave the Mules 10 home wins in a season for the first time in nine years.