LANCASTER, PA -- Franklin & Marshall guard Jackiem Wright (Sr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) drilled four-of-eight from beyond the arc in the second half to finish with 14 points to lead the #1 seed Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team past #4 seed Gettysburg College 75-49 in the Centennial Conference semifinals at the Mayser Center.

The victory sets up a showdown with Johns Hopkins University (17-8, 12-6 Centennial Conference) in the Centennial Conference title game set for 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 29 at Mayser.

Historically, the Diplomats (23-3, 17-1 CC) are 2-0 against Hopkins in CC title games as Franklin & Marshall knocked off the Blue Jays 75-67 (OT) to win the 2000 title on their way to the NCAA Final Four and dropped Hopkins 63-61 to win the 1994 title. Further, in four previous CC title games in Mayser, F&M is 3-1 defeating Gettysburg 79-67 on their way to the NCAA Final Four, but falling 50-47 in the 2002 title tilt to the Bullets.

This year, the Diplomats knocked off Gettysburg in the semifinals as point guard Duran Searles (Sr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) led the way with 15 points off six-of-eight shooting from the field, including three-of-three from beyond the arc, and one-of-one at the free-throw line as the Diplomats used a 14-2 run to open the second half and clinch the win.

Leading 34-30 at the half, the Diplomats saw their lead dwindle to a pair of points as Todd Brady dropped in a bucket to make the score 34-32 with 18:14 left on the game clock.

The basket marked the last points the Bullets would tally until a pair of free-throws by Brady with 13:44 left as the Diplomats sandwiched the Gettysburg points with 14 of their own to take a 48-32 lead and build a lead which they would need concede.

Following Brady's bucket, Brandon Smith (So., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) drilled a three-pointer at the 17:18 mark to ignite the run. At 16:27, Wright drained a "three" before Searles corralled a steal and went coast-to-coast for a lay-up and a 42-32 lead with 16:07 left. Wright added another trey at 15:25 before forward Bob Lynch (Jr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) hit a lay-up, was fouled by David Glaser and made the subsequent free-throw to close out the run for a 48-32 lead with 14:37 on the clock.

The Bullets managed to chip the lead down to 13 points at 50-37 following another bucket by Brady, but Wright arched in a three-pointer from beyond NBA range with 11:36 left for a 53-37 lead. Searles banked in a three and center Steve Juskin (Sr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) put in a lay-up for a 58-37 margin with 9:08 to go.

Gettysburg managed to trim the lead back to 20 points, but guard Bryan Teschke (Fr., Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) drilled a three-pointer to put the lead back at 65-42. Wright closed out his second half scoring by firing home his fourth and final three-pointer of the half for a 68-42 lead with 6:41 on the clock as the Diplomats coasted to the 26 point win.

In the first half, the two teams battled tooth-and-nail as Gettysburg led 24-23 with 5:24 left until halftime before the Diplomats closed out the half with an 11-6 run to carry a four-point lead into the break.

Juskin finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, and game highs in assists (five) and blocks (four), while Lynch added 11 points and five offensive rebounds.

For Gettysburg, Kyle Jakobe tallied 11 points, while Glaser and Brady netted 10 points to fire the Bullets.

In the first semifinal game, the #3 seed Johns Hopkins Blue Jays stunned #2 seed Ursinus College (16-10, 12-6 CC) 107-101.

For Ursinus, Centennial Conference Player of the Year Dennis Stanton was the story of the game as he made 14-of-26 from the field, six-of-15 from beyond the arc and eight-of-11 at the free-throw line for 42 points.

In the first half, the Bears jumped out to a 22-11 lead with 13:15 left in the first half following a lay-up by Stanton, but the Blue Jays began to chip away at the lead heading towards the break.

Matt Righter made one-of-two free throws at 12:56 to make the score 22-12 before Kevin Marquez drained a three-pointer with 12:25 to cut the lead back to 22-15. Danny Nawrocki added a bucket at 11:12 to move the margin back to 22-17 before Stanton split the defense for a lay-up to push the margin back to seven at 24-17.

Leading 35-27 with six minutes left the Bears lead began to dwindle as the Blue Jays limited Stanton's open shots and stiffened on defense. The Jays cut the lead to 41-39 with 2:05 to go in the half off a Zack Armen lay-up, but Ursinus guard Mike McGarvey connected on a pair of free-throws to move the lead back to four points with 1:50 left in the first half.

Hopkins responded as Frank Mason banked in a three-pointer to slice the margin to 43-42 before the Bears' closed out the first twenty minutes of play with a lay-up and free-throw by Joe Scholz and a jumper by Stanton to take a 48-42 lead into the break.

The Bears and Blue Jays kept at each other in the opening minutes of the second half as Ursinus led 64-58 with 15:47 left on the game clock following a jumper by McGarvey.

The Jays fired back as Nawrocki and Eric Toback knocked down baskets to slice the lead to 64-62 with 15:08 to go. Righter knotted the game at 64 all at 14:16 with a basket before Nawrocki put Hopkins in front 66-64 with 13:14 on the clock.

Stanton tied the game at 66-66 with a lay-up, but Nawrocki countered with a basket. Again Ursinus tied the game at McGarvey hit a jumper, but the points would fire the Hopkins offense with ran off six straight points off a jumper and lay-up by Toback and a lay-up by Mason to take a 74-68 lead.

The Jays failed to lose the lead for the remainder of the game as Ursinus trimmed the margin to 75-73 with 9:12 to go but couldn't overcome Hopkins.

The story of the second half was Stanton who hit only six-of-15 from the field and three-of-10 from beyond the arc while adding a six-of-nine performance at the free-throw line for 21 points as the Bears were outscored 65-53 in the second half to fall by six points.

Historically, Stanton became the all-time leading scorer in his final CC game as he raised his career total to 1,860 points surpassing the previous record of 1,841 held by former Ursinus standout Richie Barrett '01.

For Hopkins, Mason led the way with 30 points off eight-of-13 from the field and 11-of-13 at the charity stripe, while Toback and Righter chipped in 23 points apiece. Marquez added 11 points and Nawrocki tallied 12 points as the Jays will look to knock off the Diplomats for the first time this year in the CC title clash.

This year, Hopkins is 0-2 against F&M as the Diplomats dropped the Jays 81-60 in the Mayser Center on January 28 and registered a 67-63 win in a nail-biter in the regular season finale on February 24 in Baltimore.

Overall, F&M will look to capture its 14th conference playoff title, including eight in the last 14 years, with three Centennial Conference crowns, while Hopkins will look to win its second CC crown after capturing the 1999 tournament 78-52 at Washington College.

The CC title clash will be broadcast by D3hoops.com beginning at 3:00 p.m. tomorrow with Pat Cummings on the call. Click on http://d3hoops.com/audio/ for a link to all of the action.