ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa.- The Franklin & Marshall men's basketball team (0-1) struggled with turnovers in Sunday's season opener at Elizabethtown (1-0), falling 68-59.

Kevin Nowoswiat opened the year with a 19-point performance with three triples that included a team-high two steals, six rebounds, and two assists. Vakaris Grauslys was one rebound shy of a double-double, totaling ten points, nine assists, five rebounds, two blocks, and a steal. Franklin Jones posted nine rebounds with three rebounds and a block. Bryson Amos-Whitfield delivered two threes and five rebounds from the bench. 

In a competitive matchup, the key difference came in turnovers where the Blue Jays held a 7-23 advantage, forcing 16 steals from the Diplomats. From those 23 turnovers, Etown generated 23 points.

Nowoswiat opened the game with a three one minute into the game, but this was countered directly by a Blue Jays three. F&M regained the lead via a Grauslys free throw and Jones layup for a 6-5 advantage through two minutes. The next few minutes featured little scoring, with F&M pushing their lead to 9-5 through a Nowoswiat layup and Jones free throw. At this point, Etown went on a seven-point run over the next few minutes to gain a 12-9 lead. The teams traded buckets one time before F&M scored six-straight points including a three from Alex Berry and three points from Jones for a 16-14 lead ten minutes into the first half. 

An Etown layup stopped this run, but Grauslys countered to give F&M a 20-16 lead. The Blue Jays scored five of the next six points to tie the game at 21-21. Tied again at 23-23, the Diplomats scored the next nine points including four points from Nowoswiat and a three from Amos Whitfield for a game-high 32-23 advantage with 4:44 to play in the first half. The ended F&M's scoring in the first half, as the hosts cut into the deficit with a seven-point run in the remaining time, putting F&M's halftime lead at 32-30. 

The Blue Jays maintained that momentum to start the second half, tying the game with a layup. Nowoswiat responded with a three just ten seconds later, but the Blue Jays claimed their first lead in over ten minutes of play thanks to back-to-back layups. Bohdan Biekietov earned the lead back for F&M, scoring four points of his own on a dunk and jumper to give F&M a 39-36 lead through four minutes. The Blue Jays responded to this with a 7-0 run to give them a 43-39 lead. Amos-Whitfield stalled the run with a three, but Etown went on to score nine unanswered points over the next three minutes, giving the hosts a 52-42 advantage with ten minutes left. 

A layup plus an and-one from Jones and two free throws from Grauslys cut the lead in half, but Etown again pushed their lead back to ten via a three and layup on a fastbreak. Behind 57-47 at this point, F&M could get no closer than eight in the remaining seven minutes, falling by a 68-59 scoreline.

The Diplomats will look to bounce back when they travel to Marymount on Tuesday, November 11, at 7:00 p.m.