LANCASTER, Pa. --  Hayk Gyokchyan scored a game-high 28 points to lead Franklin & Marshall to a 68-46 victory over Muhlenberg in Centennial Conference (CC) action Saturday afternoon. The win is the third straight over the Mules and the Diplomats improved to 16-5, 11-3 CC this season. 

The game started out slow with Muhlenberg (12-9, 8-6 CC) holding onto a slim 7-6 lead almost five minutes into the game.  F&M came alive seconds later and outscored the Mules 14-2 over the next six minutes to go up 20-9 at 9:30. Muhlenberg answered with 11 unanswered to tie the game at 20 before Gyokchyan hit a trey to start a 10-2 F&M run down the final four minutes of the half that gave the Diplomats a 30-22 halftime edge. 

F&M tallied the first five points of the second and took a double-digit lead, 35-22, at 17:42. The teams exchanged points over the next few minutes and Muhlenberg came within 10, 45-35 at 9:44. 

That was as close as they would get as F&M went on a 14-4 scoring spurt spanning six minutes and was capped off by another Gyokchyan trey that extended F&M's lead to 59-39 at 3:33. 

Muhlenberg came within 17 points, but the Diplomats quickly went back up 20 and held on for the win. 

Gyokchyan shot 6-for-9 from behind the arc and went 4-for-4 from the line to go along with eight rebounds. The senior forward moved into the 10th spot on the all-time rebound list with 663 career boards. 

Matt Porter hit 7-of-9 foul shots and finished with 13 points and Jon Salandra had eight boards and six points. Max Brewer had a good all around line with six rebounds, five points, five assists and five steals. 

Malique Killing led Muhlenberg with 18 points on 7-for-18 shooting and Kevin Hargrove finished with 10. 

F&M outshot the Mules 41.5% to 29.2% and forced 20 turnovers that resulted in 20 points. 

Glenn Robinson picked up career win 849 to bring his career total to 849-310.

F&M goes on the road next week with contests against Gettysburg and Swarthmore. The Diplomats face the Bullets on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. and take on the Garnet on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

FRANKLIN & MARSHALL 68, MUHLENBERG 46

MUHLENBERG (12-9, 8-6 CC)

Malique Killing 7-18 2-3 18; Kevin Hargrove 4-9 2-3 10; Austin Curry 1-6 7-9 9; Alec Stavetski 1-8 2-3 4; Brandon Bovino 0-3 2-2 2; Hunter Forsman 1-1 0-0 2; Matt O'Hara 0-2 1-2 1; James Albano 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-48 16-22 46.

FRANKLIN & MARSHALL (16-5, 11-3 CC)

Hayk Gyokchyan 9-16 4-4 28; Matt Porter 3-10 7-9 13; Jon Salandra 2-4 2-4 6; Morgan Lee 2-4 0-0 5; Max Brewer 2-6 0-0 5; Gordon Rogo 2-4 1-2 5; Kaleb Faison 0-0 2-2 2; Brandon Beckford 1-5 0-2 2; Cedric Moune 1-4 0-0 2; Shawn Hines 0-0 0-0 0; Devin Figueroa 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 16-23 68.

Muhlenberg....................   22   24  -   46

Franklin & Marshall...........   30   38  -   68

3-point goals--Muhlenberg 2-17 (Malique Killing 2-5; Austin Curry 0-3; Alec Stavetski 0-5; Brandon Bovino 0-1; Matt O'Hara 0-2; James Albano 0-1), Franklin & Marshall 8-17 (Hayk Gyokchyan 6-9; Max Brewer 1-2; Morgan Lee 1-1; Gordon Rogo 0-1; Brandon Beckford 0-2; Matt Porter 0-2). 

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

Rebounds--Muhlenberg 36(Kevin Hargrove 6; Brandon Bovino 6), Franklin & Marshall 34 (Jon Salandra 8; Hayk Gyokchyan 8). 

Assists- Muhlenberg 4 (Matt O'Hara 1; Malique Killing 1; Hunter Forsman 1; Austin Curry 1), Franklin & Marshall 15 (Max Brewer 5). 

Total fouls--Muhlenberg 17, Franklin & Marshall 17. 

Technical fouls--Muhlenberg-None, Franklin & Marshall-None. A-1678