LANCASTER, PA -- Forward Bobby Lynch (Jr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) connected on 10-of-12 field goals for 21 points and pulled down six rebounds as the Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team rolled to their 11th win of the season with an 87-57 victory over Swarthmore College (5-8, 2-4 Centennial Conference) at the Mayser Center.
The victory raises F&M's record to 11-2 on the season, as the Diplomats remain perfect in Centennial Conference play with a 6-0 record. Further, the win raises head coach Glenn Robinson's career record to 659-233 (73.8 winning percentage) as he is now eight victories shy of surpassing former Illinois Wesleyan coach Dennie Bridges (666 wins) for the all-time Division III wins record.
Leading 16-13 following a short jumper by Swarthmore's Chris Loeffler with 9:43 to play in the first half, the Diplomats sealed the victory with a 30-4 run during the remainder of the half to take a 46-17 lead into intermission.
The run was ignited by Lynch who split the Garnet Tide defense like the Red Sea for a lay-up before point guard Duran Searles (Sr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) drained a three-pointer for a 21-13 lead with 6:53 to play. Swarthmore's Jacob Letendre answered making a pair of free throws to slice the Garnet's deficit to six with 6:39 to go.
However, the points were the last Swarthmore would score over the next five minutes as the Diplomats exploded on a 21-0 run. Following Letendre's free-throws, center Steve Juskin (Sr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park), guard Brandon Smith (So., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin), Searles and Lynch tallied lay-ups before guard Jackiem Wright (Sr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) fired an NBA range three-pointer through the twine for 11 points to push the lead out to 32-15 with 4:11 until halftime.
Searles made a pair of free throws off a foul by Mark Rhode before Wright drained another three-pointer and Juskin finished a lay-up to move the lead to 39-15. Smith finished off the run with a three-pointer of his own as Franklin & Marshall held a 42-15 lead with 1:34 to go.
The Garnet responded as Dillon McGrew put in a field goal with 1:20 to go before F&M's Danny Lynch (Jr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock), the twin brother of Bobby, hit a jumper and a lay-up to close out the half and give his team a 29 point lead at the break.
The margin ballooned to 51-17 in the opening minutes of the second half as Bobby Lynch made a lay-up and Wright dropped in another three-pointer before Jeff Maxim connected on a lay-up and made a foul shot to give his team 20 points.
Overall, Swarthmore failed to move within 27 points of the Diplomats for the remainder of the contest as Franklin & Marshall improves to 52-21 all-time against Swarthmore as the Garnet last defeated the Diplomats in 1975.
For the Diplomats, Juskin finished with 16 points, six rebounds and five blocked shots, while Wright and Searles chipped in 14 and 10 points, respectively, as F&M shot 33-of-56 from the field (58.9%), seven-of-13 from beyond the arc (53.8%) and 14-of-23 at the charity stripe (60.9%). Wright led the team from long range as the drained four-of-five from beyond the arc, while Searles made two-of-four and Smith connected on one-of-three while tallying nine points.
Off the bench, guard Jeff Bright (Sr., Columbia, MD/Wilde Lake) and Danny Lynch led the team with five points in limited minutes, while Ryan DeChant (Fr., Sykesville, MD/Liberty), Joaquim Hamilton (So., Yeadon, PA/Penn Wood) and Bryan Teschke (Fr., Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) added second half points as F&M ran its home record to 16-1 over the last two seasons.
Matt Gustafson led the Garnet with 18 points, while Maxim added 11 markers in the effort.
The key to the game was F&M's first half defense as the blue and white limited Swarthmore to seven-of-25 from the field (28,0%) in the opening 20 minutes, including a one-of-10 performance from beyond the arc while converting 13 Garnet turnovers for 22 points. The Garnet finished the game making 20-of-57 from the field (35.1%), six-of-23 from long range (26.1%) and 11-of-12 at the line (91.7%).
Franklin & Marshall will continue the season at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 17 at home versus Washington College in the second half of the "Centennial Conference Weekend" at the Mayser Center.
