LANCASTER, PA - Forward Brandon Smith (Jr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) scored a game high 18 points, pulled down eight rebounds and grabbed a game high five steals as the #1 seed Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team knocked off #6 seed Catholic University 66-56 at the Mayser Center in the title game of the 2005 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) South Region Championship Tournament.
The 2002 and 2003 ECAC Champions, F&M (23-7, 14-4 Centennial Conference) is now 8-0 all-time in ECAC competition after defeating Lincoln University (116-100 W) in the first round and Scranton (79-68 W) in the semifinals this year and having previously knocked off Lebanon Valley (71-59 W) and Kings (82-65 W) to take the 2003 title and Moravian College (79-59 W), Neumann College (90-66 W) and DeSales University (70-60 W) to win the 2003 crown.
Leading 28-23 at halftime, the Diplomats saw their lead trimmed to three points in the first two minutes of the second half as forward Bryan Teschke (So., Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) hit a lay-up at 19:04, but Catholic's Shane Sowden hit a hook shot at 18:47 and a lay-up at 18:00 to pull the Cardinals within striking distance of F&M.
The teams traded baskets as Smith hit a lay-up at 17:24 and CUA's Mike Wasilenko knocked down a jumper at 16:54 to keep Catholic (20-10) within three points.
Franklin & Marshall began to pull away at 16:34 as guard Jackiem Wright (Sr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) stroked a three-pointer for a 35-29 lead. Following a lay-up by Sowden to cut the lead to four points, Smith took over draining a three-pointer at 15:26 and dropping in a lay-up at 14:45 for a 49-31 lead.
Leading 42-33 following a pair of free throws by Teschke, F&M saw its lead dwindle quickly as Steve Papageorge swished a three-pointer at 13:00. Smith knocked down a pair of free throws at 12:26 to give F&M back an eight point lead at 44-36, but Papageorge swished another three-pointer to start a 7-0 run as Pat Satalin hit a three-pointer and Sowden made the front-end of a pair of free throws to pull CUA to within 44-43 with 10:29 left on the game clock.
However, the Diplomats fired back as guard Brandon Chasen (Fr., Potomac, MD/Bullis) made a lay-up at 9:15 to start a 6-0 run capped off by a jumper from Wright at 6:24 and a pair of free throws by center Dan Lynch (Sr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) at 5:55 to take a 50-43 lead.
Matt Spierenburg made a pair of free throws at 5:36 to trim F&M's lead to five points, but Smith hit a lay-up at 5:11 and a tip-in at 3:57 to start and finish an 8-0 run as the Diplomats took a 58-45 lead with under four minutes on the clock.
Papageorge attempted to rally the Cardinals with a three-pointer at 3:32, but Smith converted a pair of free throws and Lynch put in a lay-up at 2:24 to push the lead out to 62-48.
Papageorge made another three-pointer at 2:11 and Wright connected on a lay-up at 1:41 before point guard Logan Outerbridge (So., Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) swished a pair of free throws to put the Diplomats in front 66-51 with 52 seconds left on the clock.
The Cardinals closed the gap as Satalin made three-of-three free throws at :42.3 and Tim Burke converted two-of-two at the charity stripe with :02.4 left for the 66-56 final score.
In the first half, F&M jumped out the game quickly as Outerbridge drained a three-pointer 69 seconds into the game to stake the Diplomats to a 3-0 lead. Wright hit a jumper at 17:49 and Lynch knocked down a three-pointer at 16:56 for an 8-0 lead.
Trailing 20-10 at 9:58 after a three-pointer by Smith, the Cardinals rattled off an 8-0 run to move to within two points at the 5:57 mark.
F&M countered as Outerbridge made a pair of free throws at 4:23 and Chasen dropped in a lay-up at 2:47 to inch the lead out to 24-18.
Sowden tipped in a put-back at 2:04 before Teschke and Lynch made pairs of free throws at 1:51 and :51.3 to take a 28-20 lead before Scott Fumai knocked down a three-pointer with six seconds left in the half as the Diplomats entered the locker room with a 28-23 halftime lead.
Individually, four Diplomats reached double digits as Teschke and Outerbridge scored 12 points, while Wright hit for 11 points. For Wright, the game had special significance as he tied Chris Finch '92 for the school record and second place in NCAA Division III history for most games played in a career at 119.
For Catholic, Sowden scored 13 points, Papageorge added 12 and Spierenburg chipped in 10 points as the Cardinals fall to 0-4 all-time against F&M as the Diplomats caged Catholic 81-64 on December 22 in Washington behind 27 points by Wright. Previously, the Diplomats picked up wins over CUA in the 1989 Lancaster Rotary Tip-Off the New Year Tournament (77-68 on January 5 in Lancaster) and the 2000 NCAA Tournament "Elite Eight" (85-74 on March 11 at William Paterson University).
Overall, the Diplomats made 21-of-53 (39.6%) from the floor, six-of-17 (35.3%) from beyond the arc and a school record 18-of-18 from the free throw line.
Historically, F&M's 18-for-18 performance at the charity stripe erases the previous school record of 13-for-13 set by the Diplomats in 1973 versus Dickinson and on February 15, 1978 against Muhlenberg.
The game marked the final contest for seniors Dan Lynch, Wright and Bob Lynch as the trio finish their collegiate careers with a 98-21 record, including a 52-10 mark in Centennial Conference play, with three ECAC titles (2002, 2003, 2004), a Centennial Conference title (2004) and four Centennial Conference regular season championships (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005).
