ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Franklin & Marshall was able to trim an 18 point second half deficit to six in the waning minutes, but ultimately fell short in a 73-67 loss to Muhlenberg on Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference (CC) action. The Diplomats (8-15, 5-11 CC) never led in the contest, as the Muhls (8-15, 5-11 CC) controlled from the opening tip.

A 9-2 run by Muhlenberg late in the first half pushed a seven point lead to 14 at 28-14, before the Diplomats made a small push. A triple from Omar Nichols followed by a layup from Riiny Giir pulled the Muhlenberg advantage back to nine. The teams exchanged buckets to end the half, with the Muhls clinging to a nine point advantage at 32-23.

The Muhls swelled the halftime edge to their largest of the game at 18 with 16:24 remaining in the half. A 13-4 spurt out of the gate gave the home team a 45-27 lead. F&M put together a solid stretch immediately after, pulling the margin back to five with 7:10 left on a 21-8 run. The Diplomats held Muhlenberg to just one field goal during their march, as Jaylen Green was responsible for eight F&M points.

A couple of free throws and a three-pointer nudged the Muhls lead back to double digits at 60-50 with 4:54 left. The Diplomats kept fighting, trimming the lead to 69-63 off a Josh Parra layup with 1:04 remaining. A timely timeout from Muhlenberg righted the ship, as the Muhls fended off the Diplomat attack in the 73-67 final.

The loss dashed F&M's chances of a postseason appearance with two games remaining on the schedule.

It was a tale of two halves for the Diplomats, shooting just over 32% in the first, but a blistering 64% in the second. F&M focused its efforts in the interior to great success, outscoring the Muhls by 16 in the paint and 24-12 after halftime. Foul shooting was F&M's achilles heel, making just 12-22 at the stripe in a close contest.

Josh Parra scored 13 of his game-leading 22 in the second half finishing 9-12 from the floor to pair with a team-high six boards. Solomon Mathis also netted double-figures, scoring a dozen. John Seidman led the team with six assists.

F&M closes out its season next week with a pair of CC contests at home - Dickinson on Wednesday evening at 8:00 p.m. and McDaniel on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.