VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.- Kevin Nowoswiat's buzzer-beater jumper handed the Franklin & Marshall men's basketball team (10-1) another dramatic late winner, defeating No. 12 Virginia Wesleyan (7-4, 2-0 ODAC), 71-69 on Saturday afternoon.

Steve Donahue led the offense for the second-consecutive game, posting 16 points by shooting 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-4 on field goals. Nowoswiat posted 14 points with a team-best nine rebounds. Dylan Cormac's 12 points all came via threes, as he converted 4-of-6 chances. Vakaris Grauslys recorded ten points with a team-best three steals, while Franklin Jones had nine points, shooting 4-of-5 from the field. Carter Lawrence chipped in six points and seven rebounds from the bench. 

The teams entered the final six minutes in a 63-63 tie in a game that featured seven lead changes and 13 tied scorelines. The Marlins reclaimed the lead following a timeout, but the Diplomats leveled again with a Donahue jumper. Virginia Wesleyan followed this with a four-point run over their next two possessions, leading 69-65 to force an F&M timeout with 3:30 to play. Both teams struggled to score over the next two minutes, with Bryson Amos-Whitfield breaking the scoreless run with a jump shot with 1:42 to go. One possession later, Grauslys tied things up at 69-69 with one minute to go. The Diplomats utilized a timeout at this point.

F&M's defense rebounded the Marlins' jumper on their next chance, giving F&M the ball with 32 seconds to play. Grauslys' layup missed the mark with a few seconds remaining, but Jones forced a steal from a defensive rebound at the free throw line. He handed the ball off to Nowoswiat, facing away from the basket, who executed a turn-around jumper from the charity stripe for another buzzer-beater.

The Diplomats had to erase an early deficit in the first half before carrying a 42-40 advantage into the halftime intermission. The sides traded buckets up to a 5-5 scoreline through the first two minutes. From there, the hosts went on a 12-4 run to gain a 17-9 advantage through the first five minutes of play. The Diplomats began to chip away at that gap, using three points apiece from Cormac and Jones plus a Lawrence layup to get back within two points at 19-17. F&M finally drew level at 23-23 with 7:20 remaining in the first half. The teams traded points the rest of the way, with neither side gaining a lead of more than two points. The Diplomats closed out the half with a 5-2 run in the last 30 seconds, utilizing a Cormac triple to reclaim the lead for a halftime score of 42-40. Both offenses were efficient in the first half, as F&M shot 61.5% (16-of-26), while the Marlins shot 59.3% (16-of-27).

It was the Diplomats that controlled the pace to open the second half, maintaining a narrow advantage through the first four minutes. F&M earned a game-best eight-point lead thanks to a seven-point run that featured yet another three from Cormac, putting the Diplomats ahead 53-45 with 13 minutes to go. The Marlins soon cancelled out this lead with eight-consecutive points, tying the game at 55-55. The Diplomats scored the next four points before the Marlins reversed momentum with eight-straight points to maintain a 63-59 advantage. The Diplomats scored the next four points, tying things up again to set up the final minutes of the contest. 

Across the entire game, F&M won the battle on the glass, 31-24, while the Marlins forced 12 Diplomats turnovers against nine for Virginia Wesleyan. 15 of the Marlins' points came from turnovers. 

The Diplomats compete on Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m., hosting Centennial Conference opponents Haverford for a non-conference game.