Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall used a run at the beginning of the second half to break open a close game, and the host Diplomats held on to top the Gettysburg College men's basketball team 63-51 in a crucial Centennial Conference tilt Wednesday evening.

With the loss, coupled with a victory by Johns Hopkins University, the Bullets (11-13, 9-8 CC) were eliminated from Centennial Conference playoff contention.

Junior guard Sean Gordon (Broomall, Pa./Malvern Prep) led Gettysburg with a career-high 18 points while freshman forward Tanner Kirkpatrick (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) added 12 points and six rebounds for the Bullets.

Matt Porter and Jon Salandra scored 17 points apiece to lead F&M (16-8, 12-5 CC), which clinched a conference playoff spot.

Gettysburg trailed just 27-23 at halftime, but the Diplomats outscored the Bullets 14-6 over the opening six minutes of the second half to open up a 41-29 lead. F&M would push its advantage to as much as 16 (50-34) with 10:39 remaining before the Orange and Blue chipped away to pull to within 11 on a Gordon 3-pointer with 5:45 left, and again on a Kirkpatrick lay-up with 34 seconds later that made it 54-43. But that's as close as Gettysburg would get, and F&M went 4-for-4 at the foul line in the final 1:50 to ice its victory.

The Bullets outscored F&M 10-4 to open the game, capped by a 3-ball from Gordon that prompted a Diplomat timeout. But the hosts answered with a 10-2 run to assume their first lead of the night.

Back-to-back lay-ups by sophomore forward Kevin Gladstone (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) and Kirkpatrick made it 20-16 with 4:22 left in the half. However, the Diplomats ended the period on an 11-3 run to assume their four-point edge at the intermission.

Gettysburg closes out its season on Saturday, when it visits McDaniel College in a Centennial Conference match-up beginning at 3 p.m.