Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. -- Franklin & Marshall recorded its first victory of the season by upending Lancaster Bible 68-54 in the second game of the William Marshall Tip-Off Tournament. The Diplomats improved to 1-0 on the season, while the Chargers fell to 0-2.

F&M will face Christopher Newport in the championship at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, who handled Marywood 87-56 in the first game. Lancaster Bible will face Marywood in the consolation game at 5:30 p.m.

F&M dominated the early portions of the game, taking a 25-7 advantage with 8:32 left in the first half on an Ignas Slyka three-pointer. The Diplomats extended their lead to as many as 22, off of a Bo Williams three with 1:58 left, before settling for a 16 point margin entering the break. F&M feasted on Charger miscues, as that 16 point lead matched its points off turnovers in the half.

Lancaster Bible made things interesting in the second half, coming out with a 15-6 spurt that cut the Diplomat lead to seven with 12:35 remaining. A three-pointer and layup from Matt Redhead on back-to-back trips down the floor at the 11:36 mark pushed the lead back to double digits.

The Chargers cut things to single digits with 7:53 remaining, but Justin Kupa put the margin back to a comfortable margin with layups on the next two Diplomat possessions. A 12-6 F&M run put the game out of reach in the waning minutes to secure its first win of the season.

The trio of Redhead, Les Thomas, and Justin Kupa helped keep the Chargers at bay, as the three Diplomats were responsible all 23 points of F&M scoring to end the half.

Les Thomas led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, and 2-for-5 from beyond the arc. Justin Kupa finished with 12, and Matt Redhead ended with 11 and six boards to round out double-digit scorers.

Lancaster Bible was paced by William Afoakwah, who tallied 13 points and 9 rebounds in the losing effort.

The Diplomats shot 42% from the floor, while stifling the Chargers to only 32% and creating 29 turnovers on 16 steals.