BALTIMORE – Franklin & Marshall fell 67-54 to Johns Hopkins in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action Wednesday evening. The Diplomats dropped to 13-7, 9-4 CC while the Blue Jays improved to 12-8, 9-4 CC.  

It was a contentious first half with F&M taking an 8-6 edge on a Morgan Lee jumper at the 14-minute mark. With the score tied at 10, Hopkins tallied five straight to go up 15-10 at 9:57 before the teams traded baskets over the next five minutes resulting in a 21-21 tie with 4:57 left to the break.  

The teams again traded points over the next few minutes and Jon Salandra's jumper at 2:26 made it 28-28. The Blue Jays stepped up and outscored F&M 6-1 the remainder of the half to go into the intermission with a 34-29 advantage.  

Hopkins increased its to eight, 43-38, in the early minutes of the second stanza before F&M netted six unanswered and Matt Porter's jumper at 13:22 brought the Diplomats within two, 43-41.  

The Blue Jays went up 50-45 at 10:45 and the Diplomats slowly chipped away to come within three, 53-50, with under eight minutes to play.  That was as close as F&M would get as Hopkins finished the game by outscoring the Diplomats 14-4 over the final 7:34 of action.  

Cedric Moune picked up his sixth double-double of the year with 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Lee and Salandra both finished with 12 points for the Diplomats and Porter netted 11.  

Gene Williams led the Blue Jays with a game-high 18 points while George Bugarinovic finished with 15.  

F&M held a commanding 45-23 advantage on the glass, but Hopkins outshot F&M 45-40 percent from the floor. 

The Diplomats returned to action on Saturday when F&M hosts Washington in a CC double-header. The women are slated for a 1:00 p.m. tip followed by the men at 3:00 p.m.