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Diplomats Nip Swarthmore In CC Action
Feb. 2, 2008
LANCASTER, Pa. - Mike Baker led four players in double figures with a team-high 18 points to help Franklin & Marshall complete the season sweep of Swarthmore with a 66-62 victory in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action on Saturday.
James McNally registered 17 points, while Mitch Rhyner scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half to improve the Diplomats (11-8, 6-6 CC) record to 10-1 over the Garnet (5-14, 1-11 CC) at the Mayser Center.
Anthony Brooks added 13 points and dished out a team-high five assists, and also hitting two key free throws down the stretch to preserve the win for F&M.
Swarthmore's Ian McCormick and Steve Wolf posted double-doubles in the loss. McCormick recorded a game-high 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Wolf tallied 14 points and 10 boards.
A 38-35 game after a Wolf lay-up with 17:56 left in the contest came to a stand-still over the next four minutes. Neither team would register a point until McNally sank a pair of free throws from the line at 14:05.
McNally extended the Diplomats lead to seven, 42-35, with a three-point play at 13:32.
Swarthmore tied the game up at 42-all with seven unanswered points, capped the run with a Raul Ordonez lay-in at 11:12. Rhyner put F&M ahead by eight points at 6:09, nailing a jumper and a three-pointer on consecutive possessions.
The Garnet used two free throws by senior Noam Fliegelman and a short jumper by Sam Lacy to get within four, 54-50, at the 4:30 mark.
The Diplomats surged ahead, this time by nine points, on five free throws and a Brooks' layup to hold a 61-52 lead with 3:27 to play.
Swarthmore had one more surge, riding six points by McCormick to clip off an 8-0 run. The senior's three-point play with 1:36 made it 61-60 in favor of F&M.
Rhyner ended the Swarthmore run with a 16-foot jumper and the Diplomats hit three of six from the line to end a recent three-game losing streak.
The Diplomats raced out to a 10-2 lead by sinking multiple free-throw line jumpers. A Clay Scovil layup put F&M up 16-9 at 12:30. The Diplomats pushed their lead to eight before two free throws by Wolf and swirling three-pointer by Allen got the Garnet within 23-19 at 7:12.
A quick 8-2 F&M run sent the Diplomats up 31-21 at 4:45 with two McNally free throws.
The first half featured a battle in the trenches won by F&M--18 points in the paint to Swarthmore's eight.
McCormick led the Garnet with 10 points and eight rebounds in the first half, while Baker led the Diplomats with 13 points.
F&M returns to action on Wednesday at Johns Hopkins. Game time is 7 p.m.
