LANCASTER, PA - The Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team used an 11-3 spurt over the final 2:50 of play to defeat Alvernia College 72-64 in the championship game of the 2004 Rotary Club of Lancaster Tip-Off the New Year Classic at the Mayser Center
Forward Bobby Lynch (Jr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) led Franklin & Marshall (7-2, 2-0 Centennial Conference) with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds to earn All-Tournament team honors, while center Steve Juskin (Sr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) tallied 19 points and four rebounds to register MVP honors.
Tied 61-61 following a basket by the Crusaders' Cornell Merricks with 3:05 to go in the game, the Diplomats' Juskin put his team in front to stay as he put in a lay-up and was fouled by Alvernia's Ray Strickland for a free throw to go ahead 64-61.
Following a turnover by the Crusaders (5-2, 2-0 Pennsylvania Athletic Conference), Lynch drove down the middle of the lane and was fouled by Strickland. Lynch converted both free throws as the Diplomats went ahead by five with 1:46 to play.
Strickland attempted to keep his team in the game nailing a fade-away trey to slice the F&M lead to two at 66-64 with 1:24 to go, but the duo of guards Jackiem Wright (Sr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) and Duran Searles (Sr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) were too much for the Crusaders' to overcome.
Leading by only two with the shot clock running down, Wright, who spent much of the game in foul trouble on the Diplomats' bench, drained an NBA range three-pointer from the top-right corner of the arc to reestablish the five-point margin to ignite a 6-0 run to close out the game as Searles made three-of-four free-throws down the stretch for the 72-64 final.
Following Wright's trey, Strickland attempted to answer for Alvernia, but his shot sailed off the side of the rim and caromed out of bounds to give the ball back to the Diplomats as Searles made two shots at the charity stripe following a foul by Akeem Washington with 33.3 seconds remaining on the game clock. Again Alvernia attempted to answer, but a missed shot and a foul by Merricks put Wright on the line who missed the first of a one-and-one opportunity with 18.5 seconds left. Following another missed jumper by the Crusaders, Searles made the front end of a pair of free-throws with 8.8 seconds on the clock for the final points in the eight point victory.
For Alvernia, Merricks led the way with 23 points on nine-of-12 shooting to earn All-Tournament team honors, while Strickland scored 21 points in the loss.
Early on the game was all Franklin & Marshall as the Diplomats opened the game with an 8-0 run while holding Alvernia off the scoreboard for the first 3:20 of the contest. AC's Lamar Brickus ended the drought with a pair of free throws before Juskin knocked down a short jumper to push the lead back to eight.
But the Crusaders would not go down easily as Alvernia strung together an 8-2 run to move within 12-10 with 13:43 to go in the first half before Danny Lynch (Jr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock), twin brother of Bobby, spun through the defense for a lay-up to move the lead back to four points and ignite a 5-0 Lynch run. Following Danny's lay-up at the 13:22 mark, brother Bobby made three-of-four at the foul line for a 17-10 lead with 11:41 on the clock.
The lead see-sawed between five to 10 points over the next seven minutes as the Crusaders finally sliced the lead to three points behind a trey from Strickland to cap a 6-0 run from 6:04 to 4:38 before Brandon Smith (So., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) dropped in back-to-back short jumpers to push the margin back to six at 32-26 with 3:29 left in the half.
But Alvernia countered as Mike Brock knocked down a three-pointer at 3:11 and Strickland made one-of-two at the line for a 32-30 deficit with 2:34 to go.
Bobby Lynch moved the lead back to four at 34-30 with a lay-up at 2:01, but the Crusaders dominated the play over the final two minutes of the first half as Merricks knocked down back-to-back buckets at 1:48 and 1:12 to tie the game at 34 all. Danny Lynch turned the ball over on a charge with 54 seconds left in the half before Strickland rattled the backboard with a long three-pointer with 32 seconds until halftime for a 37-34 Alvernia lead at intermission.
Overall, Strickland's trey gave the Crusaders their first lead of the game. Further, the halftime deficit marked only the second time during the 2003-04 season Franklin & Marshall has trailed at the break as the Diplomats overcame a 37-36 deficit on December 6, 2003 at Haverford College for a 69-67 victory.
In the second half, the Diplomats came out inspired as Bobby Lynch put in a point blank lay-up and made a pair of shots at the charity stripe off a foul by Zach Straining to retake the lead at 38-37 just 48 seconds into the half. The Crusaders knotted the score at 38-38, 40-40 and 42-42 before Lynch tallied six of an 11-2 run as the Diplomats took a 53-40 lead with 11:10 to play.
However, Alvernia countered the run with a 12-2 sprint capped by a steal and lay-up by Straining as the Crusaders moved to within 55-52 before Smith made a short jumper to move the lead back to five at 57-52 with 6:56 left in the game.
But Alvernia refused to go down engineering a 9-4 run with five points from Merricks off a trey and a jumper to tie the score at 61-61 and set up Juskin, Searles and Wright's heroics in the final three minutes.
The game marked a measure of revenge for Franklin & Marshall College as the Crusaders upset the Diplomats 86-76 in the 1998 Rotary Tournament title game as the 2004 title game marked Alvernia's first appearance in Lancaster against F&M since their victory.
Overall, the tournament victory marks Franklin & Marshall's 19th Rotary Championship and their 15th in the last 16 years, with only the title game loss to the Crusader marring the streak.
Further, the game marked the second straight year Alvernia and Franklin & Marshall met during the regular season, as the Diplomats behind 28-points from Wright routed the Crusaders 101-61 in Reading on January 9, 2003 during a non-tournament game last year.
In the consolation game, Hobart College's Brad Strait earned All-Tournament team honors for converting 10-of-23 from the field, including four-of-13 from long range, and four-of-five at the free-throw line for a tournament single game high 28 points as the Statesmen held off SUNY-Old Westbury 86-82 in overtime.
Colby Feane added 21 points, while Joe Flacke and Tim Apuzzo chipped in 16 and 12 points, respectively, as Hobart's Feane hit a lay-up with 14.6 seconds left on the clock in regulation to tie the score at 76-76 and force an overtime frame in which the Statesmen made three-of-six field goal opportunities and one-of-two free throws to outscore SUNY 10-6 for the four point victory.
The overtime period almost did not occur as SUNY-Old Westbury's Dervent Williams, who finished the game with 18 points to earn All-Tournament honors, was fouled by Hobart's Zack Stelzner with 2.7 seconds left on the clock. Needing to make only one of two free throws to retake the lead and almost certainly lock up the win, Williams missed both shots at the charity stripe before Hobart ran out the clock for overtime.
In the extra frame, Hobart sprinted out to an 84-78 lead behind four points from Feane off a three-pointer with 2:27 to go and a free throw with 1:13 left on the clock.
But SUNY-Old Westbury refused to go quietly as the Panthers' Patrick Umassor put in lay-ups with 59.2 and 37.9 seconds left to slice the Statesmen's lead to 84-82 before Strait converted a pair of free-throws off a foul by SUNY's Chris Roberts at with 36.9 seconds to go for the four point margin of victory.
Presented by Lancaster General Hospital, HealthGuard of Lancaster and G.E. Richards/SAVIN, the 2004 Tip-Off the New Year Tournament was sponsored in the benefit of the Lancaster Community by the Rotary Club of Lancaster.
