LANCASTER, Pa. – No. 13 Franklin & Marshall withstood a late Misericordia run to defeat the Cougars 81-76 in non-conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon. F&M improved to 8-2 while the Cougars dropped to 6-6. 

Glenn Robinson picked up career win 898 and is two victories away from becoming just the fourth coach to reach 900 NCAA wins.   

Brandon Federici's triple five minutes into the game put F&M up 13-4 and another three from Federici five minutes later gave F&M an 11-point, 20-9, lead with 10:48 left in the first half. The Cougars struck back with an 11-2 run to come within two, 22-20 and stayed close to make it a 32-29 game with 5:10 left. F&M countered with an 11-0 spurt and took a 42-29 edge with a little over two minutes left in the first and went into the break with a 46-34 lead. 

Federici shot 6-for-10 from the floor in the first to net 17 and Cedric Moune chipped in eight in the opening frame. 

Misericordia came within nine points early in the second when Federici kicked off a 10-2 run for F&M which put the Diplomats up 17, 58-41, at 15:02. A Nicholas Stern jumper two minutes later made it 60-43 and the Cougars answered by outscoring F&M 15-3 over the next eight minutes to come within five, 63-58, with 5:47 left in the game. 

F&M netted five straight to go up 10 points and the teams traded possessions over the next few minutes with F&M clinging to a 76-66 lead with 1:18 on the clock.  Five unanswered by the Cougars made it a three-point game, 79-76, with 13 ticks on the clock, but Misericordia was forced to foul and Federici put the game out of reach from the line. 

Federici ended with a game-high 30 points shooting 10-for-19 from the floor and Moune picked up his fifth double-double of the year with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Hunter Eggers chipped in 10 with five assists and Jared Wright knocked in eight for the Diplomats. 

Jason Kenny had a team-high 29 points for the Cougars and Griffin Sponaugle finished with 16. 

F&M outshot MU 51-45 percent and converted 20 turnovers into 27 points. 

F&M resumes Centennial Conference action on Thursday when the Diplomats travel to McDaniel for an 8:00 p.m. game.