LANCASTER, PA - Guard Brandon Smith (Sr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) scored 19 points, dished out four assists, blocked two shots and pulled down five rebounds, while forward Derek Hines (So., Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township) tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team downed Johns Hopkins University 61-50 in the 2006 season finale.
The win was historic as the Diplomats (13-12, 8-10 Centennial Conference) clinched their ninth straight winning season and the 20th in the last 21 years and captured their 11th straight win over Hopkins (17-7, 133-5 CC) in Lancaster since a 63-55 loss on January 29, 1998.
Overall, the win kept F&M in the hunt for the fifth and final berth in the Centennial Conference Championships, but Muhlenberg College (14-11, 9-9 CC) upset Ursinus College (19-6, 15-3 CC) 74-70 in Allentown as the Mules clinched the berth.
Against Hopkins, Franklin & Marshall never trailed as the Diplomats used a 5-0 run on a jumper by forward Bryan Teschke (Jr., Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) and a three-pointer by Smith to take a 9-4 lead as the Blue Jays failed to cut the lead below two points the rest of the way.
Leading 12-8 with 12:32 left in the first half, F&M began to pull away as the Diplomats engineered a 9-4 run to go in front 21-12 at the 5:19 mark, but Johns Hopkins rallied to trim the margin to 30-25 by halftime.
In the second half, Hopkins cut the lead to 32-30 and 36-34, but F&M answered with a 14-6 run to take a 10-point lead at 50-40 with 8:31 to play.
Hopkins cut the margin to five points at 51-46 with 4:05 to play, but the Diplomats made eight-of-10 at the free throw line down the stretch to take the 11-point victory.
In addition to Smith and Hines, Teschke added eight points for Franklin & Marshall, while forward Ben Stone (Fr., Washington, DC/Maret School) came off the bench to tally eight points with six boards.
For Johns Hopkins, Danny Nawrocki scored 11 points and pulled down seven rebounds with four assists, while Matt Griffin netted 10 points and nine rebounds with a pair of blocks.
Historically, the game marked the final contest for Smith, guard Ethan Wells (Sr., West Chester, PA/Westtown School) and forward Joaquim Hamilton (Sr., Yeadon, PA/Penn Wood) as Smith concludes his career with 1,543 points, 681 rebounds, 204 steals, 268 assists, 163 three-pointers and 73 blocked shots. Overall, Smith ranks sixth in rebounds, second in steals and fifth in three-pointers in school history as he helped lead the team to three Centennial Conference title games, the 2004 Centennial Conference championship and an NCAA "Elite Eight" run and the 2005 Eastern College Athletic Conference title during the last four seasons.
