READING, Pa. -- Franklin & Marshall dropped its season opener on the road to Alvernia 77-58 in non-conference action on Tuesday evening. A 27-13 run by the Golden Wolves (2-1) towards the end of the first half evaporated a Diplomats (1-0) lead entering the break en route to a 19 point victory over F&M.

F&M burst out of the gates in the first minute, with Josh Parra grabbing the first points of his career with a layup, then Mark Suchy hitting a jumper from the elbow for a 4-0 edge early. Alvernia scored the next seven to take a 7-4 edge with 16:51 left in the first half. The teams exchanged buckets over the next two minutes, as Omar Nichols drained a three, John Seidman put in a backdoor alley-oop layup, and Solomon Mathis hit another triple to give F&M a 12-11 advantage with 14:54 remaining.

That aforementioned 27-13 run turned that one point advantage into a 13 point deficit over the next 13:34. Alvernia hit 11 of its next 19 from the field, with nearly half of their made buckets coming from behind the arc. F&M struggled in that stretch, shooting only 5-18 and missing all six attempts from deep.

A quick 6-0 spurt off of Riiny Giir and Parra layups spanning the two halves clawed the Diplomats back to within three possessions at 38-31 just 19 seconds into the second half. Alvernia answered back with an 18-8 stretch that pushed the game well out of reach with 11:38 to play at 56-39. The Golden Wolves again were on fire from the field, shooting 8-14 with two threes during the stretch.

The Diplomats chipped the lead down to 13 with 9:58 to play on a pair of Julian Thomas free throws, but that's as close as F&M got the rest of the way. F&M shot 6-18 from the field to end the game, while Alvernia made 10-14 free throws down the stretch to ice it.

F&M shot just 32.8% from the field on 22-67 shooting including 4-19 from three, while Alvernia hit a blistering 52.9% from both the field (27-51) and from three (9-17). The Diplomats held a massive edge in rebounds (43-34) and offensive rebounds (19-3), but couldn't convert on the extra opportunities. A large part of Alvernia's ability to sneak away in the middle of the first half was its bench play, which outscored F&M 24-10.

Soloman Mathis led the way with 14 points for the Diplomats. Josh Parra and John Seidman both contributed nine points, as Parra also chipped in eight rebounds. Mark Suchy filled up the stat sheet in his first career start, finishing a handful of stats shy of a triple-double with a 8/9/8 stat line. Omar Nichols also added eight points and eight rebounds.

The Diplomats look to bounce back on Friday evening, taking on Lancaster Bible College beginning at 8:30pm in the William Marshall Tip-Off Tournament.