Box Score RICHMOND, Ind. â€" Four free throws in the final minute on Saturday clinched a 58-53 victory for the Earlham College men's basketball team over Manchester University on Schuckman Court in the Athletics and Wellness Center.

Kristian Barden scored his only points of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game with six seconds left as hit a pair of free throws.

"It's a great feeling to get a win because we needed one, especially early in conference play," Earlham Head Coach Marcus Gill said. "It gives us confidence."

Manchester (1-7, 0-2) still had a chance to tie the game when Barden blocked a 3-point attempt, grabbed the ball and was fouled to set the stage for his free throws.

"That was a risky play by Kristian to go over and try to block that one," Gill said. "We want him to stay down, but he has a great knack for the ball and things like that. He didn't let the guy get the shot off and then he goes and makes the free-throws, that was big for him."
 
It was a good ending to the afternoon that didn't start well for the Quakers.

In the first half, the Spartans jumped all over the Quakers to build a 19-4 advantage by the 12:35 mark of the opening period.

The Quakers used the rest of the half to climb back into the game. Jack O'Flaherty hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to close the cap to 30-29 at intermission.

"That was big for him, because he hasn't been shooting it great and he's a great shooter," Gill said. "That was big for him to hit that at halftime and it cut the deficit to one. It gave us great momentum going into the half, and it was big for us."

In the second half, the Quakers scored the first six points to go on top 35-30 with 18:00 left to play.

Manchester rallied to tie the contest at 35-35 at 16:51. Both teams held small leads from that point until the Quakers put together another 6-0 run to lead 45-39 at 10:54.

Earlham would never trail again as Manchester continued to battle, but the Spartans couldn't catch the Quakers.

O'Flaherty led the Quakers with 12 points and three assists. Michael Parker tossed in 11 points.

Kirk Douglas finished with 10 points, while Chris Holmes and Phillip Boone added eight points each. Boone led the Quakers with six rebounds.

The next game for the Quakers (2-5, 1-1) is at Hanover College next Saturday. The HCAC affair begins at 3 p.m.

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