teinLANCASTER, Pa.- The fourth-seeded (RV) Franklin & Marshall men's basketball team (22-4, 10-3 Centennial Conference) outclassed visiting fifth-seeded Swarthmore (13-13, 7-6 Centennial Conference) in the second half of Wednesday's Centennial Conference Men's Basketball Tournament First Round matchup, leading by as much as 30 before claiming a 80-59 victory. 

A 24-point night with six triples from Vakaris Grauslys led the offense on a day where the Diplomats shot 49.1% on field goals and 50.0% on threes, totaling 11. Kevin Nowoswiat notched his sixth double-double of the season on 18 points and ten rebounds with three steals, while Steve Donahue had eight points, a team-best four steals, and five rebounds. Franklin Jones contributed nine rebounds and six points, while Landon Brownstein led bench points with seven in the late stages. 

The Garnet scored the first four points of the game through the opening three minutes ahead of Grauslys putting the Diplomats on the board with his first three. Swarthmore pushed their lead to 6-3 before back-to-back layups from Jones and Donahue gave F&M their first lead of the game five minutes in. Swarthmore took control once again with a three, but F&M followed this up with a seven-point run that featured a three and jumper from Nowoswiat, putting the hosts ahead 14-9. 

The sides traded baskets over the next five minutes, with Swarthmore remaining within seven points at 24-17 with seven minutes to go. The Garnet made another run at the lead at this stage, posting seven unanswered in less than two minutes to tie the game at 24-each. Grauslys knocked down a pair of free throws but was countered a possession later with two Swarthmore free throws. Yet again, though, Grauslys put F&M back in control with another three-pointer, initiating a seven-point run that included four more points via Nowoswiat. The Diplomats maintained a seven-point lead heading into the break.

Following a back-and-forth opening three minutes, the Diplomats took full control of the contest with an 11-point run in a two-minute span that included two threes from Grauslys plus another via Bryson Amos-Whitfield. This put the F&M advantage at 49-33 through the opening five minutes. Swarthmore broke the run following a timeout with a triple of their own, but F&M followed this with 12-consecutive points, capped by five points in a row from Grauslys. Leading 61-36 with 11:23 to go, the Diplomats advantage went as high at 30 with 4:51 to go before the Garnet closed the margin to 80-59 with a game-closing six-point run.

F&M nearly doubled their opponents rebounds, generating 47 against just 27 from the Garnet. While seven of F&M's threes came in the first half, they totaled 11 across the 40 minutes with a 50.0% conversion rate while shooting 49.1% (27-of-55) on field goals and 75.0% (15-of-20) on free throws. In contrast, Swarthmore was kept to a 36.5% (23-of-63) field goal percentage and 30.0% (6-of-20) three-point field goal percentage.

The Diplomats travel to first-seeded Gettysburg on Friday, February 27, at 7:00 p.m for a semifinal round matchup. A full preview of the matchup will be released on Thursday, while tickets are available for purchase here.