ALLENTOWN, PA -- Guard Jackiem Wright (Sr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) connected on seven-of-11 field goal opportunities, including five-of-nine from beyond the arc, as the Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team remained perfect in Centennial Conference play with an 82-77 victory at Muhlenberg College.
Leading 38-31 at halftime, the #22 nationally ranked Diplomats (10-2, 5-0 CC) needed a 14 point performance by Wright in the second half in which he drained four-of-five three-point field goal chances to hang on for the five point victory over the Mules (4-7, 2-3 CC)
Overall, F&M received virtually all of its scoring from its starting five. Center Steve Juskin (Sr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) dropped in 16, forward/guard Brandon Smith (So., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) added 13, forward Bobby Lynch (Jr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) registered 13 and point guard Duran Searles (Sr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) tallied 10 as Franklin & Marshall improves to 59-54 all-time against Muhlenberg.
Holding a seven point advantage at halftime, the Diplomats pushed the lead out to double-digits in the opening minutes of the second half as Wright arched in a three-pointer and knocked down a short jumper within 32 seconds to make the score 43-33 with 18:11 to play. Following another Wright three-pointer at 16:30 to put the lead at a game best 14-points, the Mules sliced the margin back to 11 with a Jimmy O'Brien lay-up and free throw off a Wright personal foul. However, F&M responded as Juskin finished two free throws to move the lead back to 13 with 15:48 on the clock.
The Mules and Diplomats countered each other over the next two minutes as Donte Borden and O'Brien dropped in treys, while Wright drained another pair of three-pointers to keep the lead at 13 at 59-46 with 13:22 left.
Muhlenberg closed the gap quickly as O'Brien flipped in a lay-up to ignite a 6-0 run over the next two minutes before Logan Outerbridge (Fr., Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) floated in a three-pointer to push the margin back to 10 at 62-52 with 11:11 showing on the clock.
Smith added a lay-up to move the lead to 12, but the Mules used a 9-6 run to slice the lead back to seven with 8:42 to go before Outerbridge and Smith converted on back-to-back three-pointers to again move the lead back to 13 with seven minutes to play.
But the Mules refused to go quietly as Bonda converted a pair of free-throws and Stewart made back-to-back lay-ups and added a free throw to finish a 7-0 surge which moved Muhlenberg to within 74-68 with six minutes left in the game.
Smith answered by scoring all eight of the Diplomats' final points, including four points in the final 10 seconds of the game at the free-throw line, as Franklin & Marshall closed out the win.
Smith finished the second half with 13 points as he shot four-of-five from the field, one-of-two from beyond the arc and four-of-five at the charity stripe to key F&M to their fifth straight victory.
In the first half, the game belonged to Lynch who put in five-of-11 from the field for 10 points and pulled down six rebounds to stake the team to the lead for good.
A key to the game for the Diplomats was the play of Searles as the senior guard shot three-of-six, including a team season best three-of-four from outside the arc, with four rebounds and six assists to guide the F&M offense to the win.
For Muhlenberg, O'Brien finished the game with 26 points off 10-of-19 shooting from the field, three-of-six from long range and three-of-three at the free-throw line. In addition, Jeff Stewart chipped in 19 points, 16 rebounds and four blocked shots, while Bonda added 17 points in the effort.
Franklin & Marshall will continue the season at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, January 16 at home versus Swarthmore College in the first game of a two-day "Centennial Conference Weekend" at the Mayser Center. On Saturday, F&M and Washington College will clash at 4:00 p.m. in the Mayser Center as the Centennial Conference schedule was reformatted this year for a "back-to-back" weekend in mid-January during which each Conference school plays contests on both Friday and Saturday.
