SWARTHMORE, PA - Franklin & Marshall guard Jackiem Wright (Sr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) hit nine-of-16 shots from the field, including six-of-11 from beyond the arc, for a game high 24 points as the Diplomats routed Swarthmore 67-47 in Centennial Conference men's basketball action.
Wright, who broke the school record for three-pointers with two against Johns Hopkins to surpass Jeremiah Henry '96 (234), added to his record as he now has 242 in his career with 1,269 points as he moved to within four points of surpassing Dave Jannetta '95 (1,272 points) for 14th on the all-time scoring list at Franklin & Marshall.
The win places the Diplomats back into a first place tie with Gettysburg and Johns Hopkins in the Centennial Conference as Gettysburg fell at Haverford 89-75 and Johns Hopkins survived a scare to hold off Muhlenberg 63-61 in Baltimore. Among the three teams, Franklin & Marshall defeated the Bullets 68-65 in Gettysburg on December 8 and downed Johns Hopkins 64-59 on January 26 in Baltimore.
Against Swarthmore, Franklin & Marshall trailed just once as Dillon McGrew hit a jumper and a free throw to put the Garnet ahead 5-4 with 15:56 left in the first half. The lead lasted 108 seconds as forward Bryan Teschke (So., Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) knocked down a shot at 14:08 to put the Diplomats back in front to stay.
Leading 12-11 with 10:06 to play in the half, F&M began to put the game away as Josh Fogg (Jr., Merrimacport, MA/Cushing Academy) hit a lay-up, Adam Leonard (Fr., Muncy, PA/Muncy) drilled a three-pointer and Wright swished the first of his six treys for a 20-14 lead with 8:28 remaining until halftime,
The Garnet failed to cut the lead to less than four points during the remainder of the half as F&M closed out the half with a 6-0 run in the final two minutes of play courtesy back-to-back three pointers by Wright for a 37-25 lead at the break.
The second half was all F&M as the Diplomats led by as many as 22 points before the Garnet cut the lead to 20 points in the waning seconds with a pair of free throws by Brandon Luzar.
For F&M, center Dan Lynch (Sr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, including 10 defensive boards, while point guard Logan Outerbridge (So., Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) chipped in six points and six assists as Franklin & Marshall improves to 55-21 all-time against the Garnet with a 29 game winning streak dating back to 1975.
McGrew led Swarthmore with 15 points, while Spencer Gray and Chris Casey added eight and seven points, respectively.
Franklin & Marshall (13-5, 8-3 Centennial Conference) will continue the season on February 2 in the Mayser Center versus Gettysburg in a first place clash. Game time is set for 8:00 p.m.
