LANCASTER, Pa. – Brandon Beckford scored a career-high 26 points to lead Franklin & Marshall to a 71-40 victory over McDaniel Saturday in Centennial Conference (CC) action. The Diplomats maintain their one-game lead in conference and improved to 13-4, 8-2 CC. The Green Terror fell to 9-8, 6-4 CC.

The game started out slow as both team settled in.  F&M held a slight 9-8 edge before Max Brewer drained a trey that gave the hosts the lead for good with 13:10 to play in the first half. Steve Tolliver added a triple of his own and Jon Salandra converted a free throw after a dunk to account for a 9-0 run that put Franklin & Marshall on top 15-8 with 11:26 showing.  McDaniel answered by outscoring F&M 7-2, still trailing 17-15 at 7:38. The Diplomats slowly built their lead and went into the break with a 29-23 edge.

F&M turned it up in the second half coming out of the break with a 20-6 run to lead 49-29 with 11:05 remaining in the game. The Diplomats led by as much as 33 in the second stanza.

Beckford scored 15 of his 26 points in the second half and shot 50% from the floor and went 4-for-9 from behind the arc. Georgio Milligan netted 10 points with five dimes. Jon Salandra and Max Brewer each finished with eight points. Hayk Gyokchyan pulled down a game-high eight boards and added seven points.

Devon Lesniak paced the Green Terror with 15 points.

F&M outshot McDaniel 44% to 31% and held a 35-24 advantage on the glass.

Coach Glenn Robinson is five victories away from becoming only the 13th coach in NCAA history to reach the 800-win plateau. Robinson is also five games shy from coaching in his 1,100 contest in his 40 years at F&M.

You can read more about Robinson's road to 800 by clicking here.

The Diplomats return to court on Wednesday when F&M travels to Johns Hopkins for an 8:00 p.m. tip off.


FRANKLIN & MARSHALL 71, MCDANIEL 40

MCDANIEL (9-8, 6-4 CC)
Devon Lesniak 4-13 5-6 15; Cullen Murray-Kemp 3-4 0-1 6; Woody Butler 3-7 0-1 6; Christopher Cowles 2-5 2-2 6; Louis Sarris-Grau 2-6 0-0 4; Michael Jarboe 1-5 1-2 3; Marcus Dyson 0-4 0-0 0; James Cranwell 0-0 0-0 0; Tyler Rudd 0-2 0-0 0; Evan Pupelis 0-0 0-0 0; Josh Smith 0-0 0-0 0; Mitch Belella 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 15-48 8-12 40.

FRANKLIN & MARSHALL (13-4, 8-2 CC)
Brandon Beckford 9-18 4-5 26; Georgio Milligan 2-4 6-7 10; Steve Tolliver 4-9 0-0 9; Max Brewer 3-4 0-0 8; Jon Salandra 2-4 4-5 8; Hayk Gyokchyan 3-5 1-2 7; Mike Baker 1-6 0-0 2; Nick Mraz 0-1 1-2 1; Dave Balderston 0-1 0-0 0; Kevin Henry 0-0 0-0 0; Ty Savastio 0-0 0-0 0; Kevin Hines 0-0 0-0 0; Brett McCormick 0-1 0-0 0; Matt Porter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-54 16-21 71.

McDaniel......................   23   17  -   40
Franklin & Marshall...........   29   42  -   71

3-point goals--McDaniel 2-8 (Devon Lesniak 2-4; Cullen Murray-Kemp 0-1; Michael Jarboe 0-2; Mitch Belella 0-1), Franklin & Marshall 7-18 (Brandon Beckford 4-9; Max Brewer 2-3; Steve Tolliver 1-4; Brett McCormick 0-1; Georgio Milligan 0-1).

Fouled out--McDaniel-None, Franklin & Marshall-None.

Rebounds--McDaniel 24 (Woody Butler 7), Franklin & Marshall 35 (Hayk Gyokchyan 8).

Assists--McDaniel 3 (Cullen Murray-Kemp 1; Devon Lesniak 1; Christopher Cowles 1), Franklin & Marshall 11 (Georgio Milligan 5).

Total fouls--McDaniel 22, Franklin & Marshall 15.

Technical fouls--McDaniel-None, Franklin & Marshall-None.

A-1089