The ninth-ranked Swarthmore men's basketball team jumped out to an 8-1 lead and never let up, defeating Muhlenberg 88-65.

The loss dropped the Mules (11-7, 6-5) into fifth place in the Centennial Conference, a game behind both Gettysburg - their opponent at home on Saturday - and Ursinus. Muhlenberg has a two-game lead over three teams that are currently tied for the sixth and final playoff spot at 4-7.

Graduate student Dan Gaines led all scorers with 21 points and added 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Junior Giovanni Rubino scored 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting.

Muhlenberg crept back to within 10-9 after the slow start, but the Garnet (17-1, 11-0) scored the next five points to extend its lead back to six. The closest the Mules got after that was four points, 29-25 on a layup by junior Brandon Goldberg with 3:37 left in the half. Swarthmore ended the half on a 9-1 run and maintained its double-digit advantage for all but about 20 seconds of the second half. 

Senior Justin Allen (pictured above) came off the bench to score 5 points. Freshman Nate Hoffman scored his first career points on a layup off a nifty feed from sophomore Micah Coates late in the second half.