LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall fell 64-61 to No. 12 St. Mary's (Md.) in men's basketball action Saturday afternoon at the Mayser Center. The Seahawks improved to 3-1 while F&M dropped to 2-4. 

The Diplomats started out strong with a 9-0 early advantage three minutes into the contest before both teams traded scoring spurts over the next 10 minutes and Cedric Moune's free throw at 6:54 gave the Diplomats a 24-15 lead. The Seahawks scored four straight to come within five, 24-19, at 4:44 and Morgan Lee hit two from the line at the three-minute mark to make it 32-24.  

St. Mary's dominated the final three minutes of the first half by outscoring F&M 7-0, but the Diplomats took a slight, 32-31 edge into the break.  

F&M netted the first four points in the opening minutes of the second stanza before the Seahawks answered with a 9-0 run and took a four point lead, 40-36, at 14:50. The Diplomats countered with an 11-0 run with five points from Joe Krong and led 47-40 at 11:51.  

The Seahawks outscored F&M 10-3 over the next two minutes and tied the game at 50 with 9:17 left to play. St. Mary's slowly increased its lead to four, 58-54, with 4:43 remaining before Jon Salandra scored four straight to tie the game a 58 at 2:16.  

Troy Spurrier's layup at 1:39 made it 60-58 before Salandra hit a jumper at 1:11 to put F&M back in front 61-60.  St. Mary's went back on top with two foul shots and F&M had two opportunities in the final 20 seconds for the last shot, but turned the ball over on both possessions and the Seahawks escaped with the win.  

Salandra picked up his first double-double of the year with a game-high 20 points and pulled down 11 boards.  Morgan Lee shot 5-for-6 from the stripe and finished with 15 points and seven rebounds while Moune had 13 boards with nine points. Matt Porter chipped in eight and Krong finished with seven for F&M. 

Nick LaGuerre led the way for St. Mary's with 14 points while Spurrier was the only other Seahawk to finish in double-figures with 13 points.  

The Diplomats dominated on the glass with a 45-26 advantage in rebounds, including 18 on the offensive side that led to 21-second chance points.  

F&M resumes conference action on Tuesday when the Diplomats host Ursinus at 8:00 p.m.