Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Jackiem Wright
led four players in double figures with 18 points, going 5-for-7
from 3-point range to lead 19th-ranked Franklin & Marshall
past Gettysburg 68-52 in Centennial Conference (CC) men’s
basketball action on Wednesday.
Steve Juskin and Duran
Searles added 11 points apiece as the Diplomats (19-3,
8-2 CC) moved into sole possession of first place in the CC
West Division with three games remaining. Asaf Ganot
also hit double digits with 10 to help F&M snap a three-game
losing streak at Bream Gymnasium and sweep the season series
from the Bullets (11-11, 7-3 CC) for the first time since
1998-99.
Brad Billmeier (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell
Valley), Ryan Page (Silver Spring, MD/St. John’s
College [DC]) and Todd Brady (Hancock, NH/ConVal)
each scored a game-high 10 points for Gettysburg, which shot
just 6-for-29 from 3-point range and lost for the first time
in its last 12 conference home games.
Franklin & Marshall used a 10-0 run
at the beginning of each half to dictate the play throughout
the evening.
After falling into a 10-point hole in
the game’s first two minutes and burning a pair of timeouts,
the Bullets went on a 15-4 run over a stretch of 7 minutes,
10 seconds to take their only lead of the game at 15-14.
Bob Lynch’s jumper on the
Diplomats’ possession put F&M ahead to stay and keyed
a 12-4 burst that made it 26-19 following a Juskin layup with
4:37 left in the half. Wright’s third triple of the first
half pushed the lead to 32-23 before Brady converted a 3-point
play to pull Gettysburg within six at the break.
The second half, however, was all F&M.
Taking advantage of five missed shots and five turnovers by
the Bullets, the Diplomats raced to a double-digit lead in
the early minutes of the half and never looked back.
A layup and free throw by Frank
Hughes made it 35-26 and a tip-in by Ganot pushed
the lead to 11. Searles sandwiched three charity tosses around
a layup by Juskin to cap the 10-0 burst and make it 42-26
with 15:23 left.
Page halted the run and broke a 7-minute,
16-second scoring drought with a pull-up jumper from the baseline,
but Wright answered by calmly draining another 3-pointer and
assisting on a Ganot layup to make it 47-28.
Brandon Smith knocked down
a trey to push the lead to 50-28 with 11:59 left and F&M
led by as many as 29 en route to the victory.
Billmeier’s 10 points tied a career high,
set on two other occasions. Gettysburg leading scorer David
Glaser (West Chester, PA/Malvern Prep) was held to
four points on the night, but did haul in a game-high nine
rebounds.
Ganot, Juskin and Wright each led F&M
with six rebounds on the night.
The Bullets return to action on Saturday
at McDaniel. Game time is 2 p.m.
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