Box Score
LANCASTER, Pa. - Bobby
Lynch led three players in double figures with 24
points, helping 19th-ranked Franklin & Marshall come from
behind to defeat Gettysburg 74-72 in Centennial Conference
(CC) men's basketball action on Wednesday.
Lynch tallied 10 straight
points during a three-minute stretch late in the second
half that put the Diplomats (4-1, 2-0 CC) ahead to stay.
Brandon Smith finished with 18 points while
Jackiem Wright added 16, including three
game-sealing free throws in the final seconds.
Kyle Jakobe (Baltimore,
MD/McDonogh/Peddie [NJ]), who played at F&M as a
freshman before transferring to Gettysburg, keyed the Bullets'
comeback from a 15-point first-half deficit, pouring in
a career-high 19 points and tying a career-best with five
3-pointers. David Glaser (West Chester, PA/Malvern
Prep) added 19 points on the night while Dami
Oloruntoba (Glenn Dale, MD/Eleanor Roosevelt) tallied
a season-high 14 points.
After watching the Bullets
(4-2, 1-1 CC) erase a 12-point, second-half deficit and
take a 58-54 lead with 8:04 to play, Lynch and the Diplomats
responded with the go-ahead run to stay perfect in CC play.
A Wright 3-pointer cut
the deficit to one and Lynch tied the game at 58 with one
free throw, the first of his 10 straight points.
Oloruntoba went 1-of-2
from the free-throw line to make it 59-58, but Lynch was
fouled while converting a layup and hit the ensuing foul
shot to give F&M a 61-59 edge with 5:38 left.
Todd Brady (Hancock,
NH/ConVal) ripped a 3-pointer with the shot clock
winding down to give Gettysburg its final lead of the game
at 62-61, but Lynch hit two free throws and scored on a
baseline drive to make it 65-62. Jakobe's fifth and final
trey knotted the game at 65, but Lynch backed down his defender
and scored in close to put the Diplomats ahead to stay at
67-65 with 3:17 remaining.
A Lynch tip-in stretched
the lead to 71-66 with 1:49 to play. Two free throws apiece
from Brady and Jakobe, and a Glaser tip-in pulled the visitors
within 73-72 with 4.1 seconds left. Wright, however, hit
1 of 2 free throws and Lynch swiped the ensuing inbounds
pass to seal the victory.
Down 31-15 late in the
first half and trailing 39-27 with 18:06 to play, the Bullets
went on a 21-8 run over the next 6 minutes, 57 seconds to
take their first lead of the night. Reggie Davis (Longwood,
FL/William Penn Charter [PA]) started the run with
a driving layup in traffic before Oloruntoba drained back-to-back
3-pointers to make it 39-35.
Smith's 3-point play
temporarily halted the run, but Davis followed two Brady
free throws with a steal-and-breakaway combination to pull
Gettysburg within three. Smith hit a 15-footer from the
wing to push the F&M lead to 47-41, but the Bullets answered
with a 9-0 run, taking a 50-47 lead on a Jakobe 3-pointer
and two Glaser free throws.
Lynch hit a layup and
Smith converted two free throws to help the Diplomats regain
a 51-50 lead with 9:50 to play. Jakobe dropped in two more
3-pointers during an 8-3 burst that made it 58-54 Gettysburg
before Lynch took the game into his own hands.
Franklin & Marshall threatened
to run away with the win in the first half. Keyed by two
3-pointers apiece from Smith and Duran Searles,
the Diplomats turned an early one-point lead into a 31-15
advantage, thanks to a 19-5 run through the middle of the
half.
Threes by Jakobe and
Oloruntoba helped the Bullets close the half on an 8-2 run
to pull within 33-24 at the break.
Gettysburg shot 52 percent
from the floor on the night, including 59 percent (13-for-22)
from 3-point range. In the second half alone, the Bullets
shot 64 percent from the field and 70 percent (7-for-10)
from downtown.
Brady finished with a
season-high 11 points in the losing effort. Jakobe added
a team-high six rebounds and four assists.
Lynch hauled down a
game-high seven rebounds to go with his 24-point performance.
Gettysburg returns to
action on Saturday at Navy. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
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