COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - In a hard fought battle on the road, the Franklin & Marshall Men's Basketball team fell just short in its comeback attempt, falling 67-65 to Ursinus. Despite the loss,
Vakaris Grauslys tied the program record for free throws made in a single game with 17.
In a back-and-forth start to the game, the Bears led 10-6 inside of the 16-minute mark after making their first three shots from the field. However, after a 6-1 run by the Diplomats, which included three-pointers from
Jaylen Green and and
Sebastien Charles, F&M took its first lead of the night. It was the only the time the Diplomats were ahead on the scoreboard, as F&M went on a scoring drought for nearly seven minutes during which Ursinus jumped back on top, 16-12. After
John Seidman broke the drought with a layup,
Omar Nichols drilled a shot from deep to make it an 18-17 game with just over six minutes left until halftime. The two teams then began to trade buckets before Charles knocked down a shot from distance to even the score 26-26. On the other end, Trevor Wall made a layup to give the Bears a two-point edge heading into the locker room.
With Ursinus leading 36-34 at the 16-minute mark of the second half, the Bears took their largest lead of the contest with nine consecutive points. Though the Diplomats cut the deficit to five, Ursinus built its advantage back up 11, leading 50-39 with under 12 minutes remaining in regulation. F&M responded strongly once again, however, outscoring the Bears 8-1 over the next two minutes to get to within four. Despite seeing multiple field goal droughts inside of the final 10 minutes, Grauslys kept the Diplomats within striking distance with his free throw shooting as F&M trailed 60-56 with just over two minutes left to play. The sophomore then drained a shot from beyond the arc to get the Diplomats within one, but Wall answered with back-to-back buckets to put the Bears up by five. Down 67-64 with six seconds remaining, F&M saw one more possession in which Grauslys was sent to the charity stripe again. After he made the first free throw but missed the second, Green collected the loose ball and gave up to Nichols, who was unable to connect with a go-ahead three-pointer at the buzzer.
His third straight 20-point performance, Grauslys ended the night with 27 points and shot 17-of-18 from the free throw line.
Josh Parra tallied a team-best eight rebounds.
The Diplomats will now return home to face Muhlenberg on Saturday, February 3 at 3 p.m.
