LANCASTER, PA - Forward Brandon Smith (Sr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) scored 20 points in the second half to finish with a game high 27 points as the Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team defeated Alvernia College 78-73 in non-conference action.
Trailing 29-28 at halftime, Franklin & Marshall (6-3, 2-2 Centennial Conference) took the lead 31 seconds into the second half as Smith hit a lay-up to go ahead 30-29. The lead swayed back and forth by one point over the next two minutes before Smith made the front-end of a pair of free throws to put the Diplomats back in front 35-33.
Alvernia (5-3, 3-0 Pennsylvania Athletic Conference) tied the game as Chris Talley knocked down a jumper with 16:16 to play on the clock, before F&M guard Adam Leonard (So., Muncy, PA/Muncy) and Alvernia's Mike Brock traded three-pointers to set the score at 38-38 with 15:37 to play.
The Diplomats engineered a 5-0 run to take a 43-38 lead as forward Brandon Yost (So., McDaniel, MD/St. Michael's) and Smith made free throws before point guard Logan Outerbridge (Jr., Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) connected on a three-pointer at 13:55. Alvernia trimmed the lead back to a point as Talley made a lay-up at 13:31 and Lamar Brickus drilled a jumper at 13:08 to pull the Crusaders to within 43-42.
F&M pushed the lead out to four points as Yost knocked down a three-pointer at 12:51, but Brickus put in a lay-up at 12:44 and added a free throw to trim the Diplomats' lead to 46-45.
Smith then took over the game hitting three-pointers at 11:52 and 10:36 and a jumper at 11:06 to account for an 8-2 run to put the Diplomats ahead 54-47.
Alvernia rallied to within four points as Zach Straining made the first of a pair of free throws and Talley swished a lay-up at 9:04 to trail 54-50. The Diplomats pushed the lead out to 10 points as center Derek Hines (So., Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township) made pairs of free throws and forward Joaquim Hamilton (Sr., Yeadon, PA/Penn Wood) added a pair at the charity stripe for a 60-50 lead with 7:26 to play.
The Crusaders took control of the game with a 14-5 run to move to within 65-64 with 4:44 to play, but Yost put home a lay-up at 4:21 to put F&M back ahead 67-64. Alvernia tied the game at 67-67 as Mike Brock drained three free throws at 4:04, but Outerbridge put F&M back in front two seconds later with a pair of free throws.
Yost added to the lead with a trey at 3:18, but Garrett Etzel knocked down a jumper at 2:44 and Brickus chipped in a pair of free throws at 2:20 as Alvernia climbed back to within a point at 72-71.
Smith again took over the game making a pair of free throws at 1:44 and another with 40 seconds left on the clock to go ahead 75-71. Talley hit a jumper with 21.3 seconds left, but Outerbridge made a free throw with 18.4 seconds to play and Leonard floated in a lay-up with half a second left on the clock for the 78-73 final score.
Hines finished with a double-double for the Diplomats as he tallied 14 points and 11 rebounds with a pair of blocked shots, while Leonard added 16 points and eight rebounds. Smith chipped in five rebounds and five assists as the Diplomats improved to 6-2 all-time against Alvernia in men's basketball.
For the Crusaders, Brickus, Straining and Talley all finished with 16 points, while Straining added 11 rebounds for a double-double and Brock tacked on 12 points.
Overall, the game was nip-and-tuck the entire way as neither team led by more than four points in the first half as the lead exchanged hands 14 times in the period and 15 times in the game.
The key to the game was F&M's dominance beyond the arc and at the charity stripe in the second half as the Diplomats converted on 18-of-23 free throw chances and six-of-nine from three-point range, while Alvernia made nine-of-11 at the stripe and three-of-10 from beyond the arc.
For the game F&M finished 25-of-55 from the field (45.5%), including 10-of-19 from long range (52.6%), and 18-of-28 at the free throw line (64.3%), while Alvernia went 28-of-56 from the field (50%), five-of-16 from beyond the arc (31.3%) and 12-of-15 at the line (80%).
The win marks the 703rd in the career of Franklin & Marshall head coach Glenn Robinson who surpasses former University of Albany head coach Dick Sauers (702-330) for 24th on the all-time NCAA wins list.
Franklin & Marshall will continue the season on January 2-3 at home in the Annual Rotary Tip-Off the New Year Tournament versus #17 nationally ranked Lincoln University, Mitchell College and Juniata College. The Diplomats will take to the floor on January 2 at 8:00 p.m. versus Mitchell following a 6:00 p.m. game pitting Lincoln and Juniata.
