LANCASTER, Pa.- Six Diplomats reached double-figures for scoring as the No. 19 Franklin & Marshall men's basketball team (18-3, 7-2 Centennial Conference) defeated Swarthmore (12-9, 6-3 Centennial Conference), 86-71 on Saturday afternoon. The win moves the Diplomats to a 10-0 record at the Mayser Center in 2025-26.

Steve Donahue totaled 16 points, going 3-of-3 on triples with five rebounds, three steals, and three assists. Kevin Nowoswiat also recorded 16 points plus five rebounds. Vakaris Grauslys posted 15 points, converting 10-of-12 chances from the charity stripe with four assists. Bohdan Biekietov also recorded four assists plus a career-best ten points and five rebounds. Bryson Amos-Whitfield had 13 points and seven rebounds from the bench, while Carter Lawrence contributed 11 points, including three shots beyond the arc. 

Donahue opened the scoring with a three, but the Garnet followed this with five points of their own. Amos-Whitfield tied the game again with a layup, and the sides traded buckets up to a 7-7 tie. Swarthmore broke the tie this time with a three, marking the last time the Garnet would have their share of the lead. The Diplomats countered with a five-point run to put the hosts back in front for the first time in over six minutes at 12-10. Swarthmore paused that run with a game-tying layup, but what followed was a critical 9-0 stretch from the Diplomats in a two-minute spell that included five points from Donahue and back-to-back layups from Biekietov. F&M held a 21-12 advantage through the opening ten minutes.

Swarthmore got back within five points via a jumper and two free throws, but F&M responded with five consecutive points, reaching a double-digit lead for the first time via an Amos-Whitfield three. The lead hovered around ten points over the next four minutes during a spell that featured a dunk from Biekietov, a three from Donahue, and three successful Grauslys free throws. A three from Cormac and a layup from Nowoswiat put F&M's lead at a half-best 15 with 3:24 to go before F&M carried a 43-31 lead into the halftime break. 

Coming back from the intermission, back-to-back threes from Nowoswiat and Grauslys put the Diplomats' lead up to 18 inside of 1:15. The sides traded free throws over the next few possessions before Garnet got back within ten points on a run of three successful shots beyond the arc. F&M broke that rally with a three from Lawrence, beginning a 8-2 run that included yet another three from Lawrence, giving the Diplomats a 59-43 lead with 13:41 left. 

Following a Swarthmore timeout, the sides returned from the break with a high-scoring sequence of trading buckets that included three threes in a 30-second span. With F&M's lead at 13 with 9:23 to go, Swarthmore began to chip away at the deficit, scoring five unanswered over the next three minutes to cut the lead to 68-60. F&M countered that with a six-point run that included a Donahue-to-Biekietov alley-oop dunk, giving F&M a comfortable 14-point lead with 4:24 left. Swarthmore could get no closer than 11 in the remaining time. 

The 86 points scored sets a new season-high scoring total, while shooting a new season-best 56.0% (28-of-50) on field goals. The offense also leveled a season-best on three-point field goal percentage, shooting 50.0% (11-of-22). The Diplomats also converted from the charity stripe, converting on 82.6% of chances (19-of-23). Swarthmore shot 37.1% (26-of-70) on field goals, 34.6% (9-of-26) on threes, and just 55.6% (10-of-18) on free throws. 

F&M travels to Muhlenberg on Wednesday, February 11, at 6:00 p.m. beginning the final two weeks of the regular season.