LANCASTER, Pa. – Jon Salandra netted 21 points to lead Franklin & Marshall to a 66-46 victory over Muhlenberg Saturday afternoon at the Mayser Center. The Diplomats moved into third place in the conference standings with two games left to play and improved to 15-8, 11-5 CC.

Seniors Ed Early, Matt Porter, Jon Salandra and Nick Belyaev were honored before the game for senior day.

Muhlenberg jumped out to an early 15-6 lead five minutes into the first half before Jared Wright kicked off a 7-0 run for F&M and brought the Diplomats within two, 15-13, at 13:47.  Malique Killing gave the Mules a 19-16 edge with 12:30 left and Diplomats rattled off four straight to take their first lead of the game, 20-19, with just under nine to play. 

The Mules quickly went up three, but the Diplomats stayed close and tied the game at 25 on a Lior Levy layup at 4:36. F&M continued to pressure and closed out the first half on a 6-0 run and took a 31-25 lead into the break.

F&M increased its lead to 11, 43-32, on a trey from Terrel Phelps, but the Mules stayed close and came within eight.  F&M countered with a 15-2 run over the next five minutes with eight points from Salandra as the Diplomats took a 21 point, 59-38, lead with a little under five minutes to play. 

The Diplomats maintained a double-digit advantage the remainder of the contest, leading by as many as 23. 

Salandra shot 7-for-11 from the floor for his 21 points in just 25 minutes of action. Cedric Moune netted 12 on 5-for-8 shooting while Morgan Lee finished with eight points and seven boards. Levy also tallied eight while Phelps and Wright finished with six apiece. 

Austin Curry had 12 for the Mules and the Diplomats held Killing to just 10 points. Killing came into the game leading the conference with 22.9 points per game. 

F&M outshot Muhlenberg 47-38 percent and held a 34-27 advantage on the glass. 

The Diplomats return to action in the final home game of the regular season when F&M hosts Gettysburg at 8:00 p.m.