ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. – No. 14 Franklin & Marshall rallied late, but ran out of time, falling 63-57 to ninth-ranked St. Mary's in non-conference basketball action Monday evening. The Diplomats fell to 11-2 while the Seahawks improved to 14-1.

F&M struggled in the first half and found itself trailing by 23 points, 37-14, at halftime, before slowly chipping away in the second. 

The Diplomats opened up the second frame with an 18-5 run to come within 10, 42-32, with 11:53 left in the game. St. Mary's quickly responded with seven-straight and went up 49-32, but F&M countered with eight unanswered to make it 49-40 at 6:33.

Donn Hill hit two from the line for the Seahawk before Ed Early netted four in a 6-0 F&M spurt to put the Diplomats within five, 51-46, with 4:29 left to play. Hill hit two more from the line to put SMC up nine, but F&M outscored St. Mary's 6-2 over the next two minutes to make it a two score game, 59-55, with 1:30 left. 

The teams traded points in the next two possessions and F&M could not hit from behind the arc . St. Mary's hit 4-of-6 from the stripe over the final 30 seconds to secure the victory. 

Early led F&M with 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting and collected six rebounds. Matt Porter netted 13 and Brandon Beckford finished with eight. Jon Salandra had a game-high nine boards to go along with six points. 

Devin Spencer finished with a game-high 18 points to pace the hosts and Brendan McFall fished with 16. 

The Seahawks outshot F&M 50 percent to 38 percent, but F&M held a 37-27 advantage on the glass. 

The Diplomats return to action on Thursday with a 7:30 p.m. contest at Muhlenberg before traveling to Washington to cap off the week. 

No. 9 ST. MARY'S (MD.) 63, No. 13 FRANKLIN & MARSHALL 57

FRANKLIN & MARSHALL (11-2)

Ed Early 8-10 4-6 20; Matt Porter 3-10 6-6 13; Brandon Beckford 4-9 0-0 8; Jon Salandra 3-9 0-0 6; Hayk Gyokchyan 1-6 0-0 3; Morgan Lee 1-3 1-4 3; Cedric Moune 0-1 2-2 2; Max Brewer 1-5 0-0 2; Devin Figueroa 0-2 0-0 0; Kaleb Faison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 13-18 57.

ST. MARY'S (MD.) (14-1)

Devin Spencer 5-10 5-6 18; Brendan McFall 8-14 0-0 16; Donn Hill 1-3 5-8 7; Kyle Wise 2-2 2-5 6; Jeff Haus 2-4 2-2 6; Nick LaGuerre 2-6 0-0 5; MacGyver Biniak 0-1 3-4 3; Troy Spurrier 1-1 0-1 2; Henry Bernstein 0-1 0-0 0; Ben Goldsmith 0-0 0-0 0; James Davenport 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-42 17-26 63.

Franklin & Marshall...........   14   43  -   57

St. Mary's (Md.)..............   37   26  -   63

3-point goals--Franklin & Marshall 2-16 (Matt Porter 1-3; Hayk Gyokchyan 1-3; Morgan Lee 0-1; Max Brewer 0-3; Devin Figueroa 0-2; Brandon Beckford 0-4), St. Mary's (Md.) 4-11 (Devin Spencer 3-7; Nick LaGuerre 1-2; Jeff Haus 0-1; Brendan McFall 0-1). 

Fouled out--Franklin & Marshall-None, St. Mary's (Md.)-Nick LaGuerre; Brendan McFall. 

Rebounds--Franklin & Marshall 37 (Jon Salandra 9), St. Mary's (Md.) 27 (Nick LaGuerre 4; Jeff Haus 4; Brendan McFall 4). 

Assists--Franklin & Marshall 12 (Max Brewer 5), St. Mary's (Md.) 7 (Nick LaGuerre 2; Donn Hill 2). 

Total fouls--Franklin & Marshall 21, St. Mary's (Md.) 19. 

Technical fouls--Franklin & Marshall-None, St. Mary's (Md.)-None. 

A-246