LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall ended the first half on a 15-2 run, then pulled away in the second half to hand the Bullets a 79-53 setback in Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball action Thursday evening at the Mayser Center.
 
Sophomore guard Nick Antolini (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) scored 16 points to lead Gettysburg (5-13, 3-8 CC). Senior forward Matt England (Warrington, Pa./Holy Ghost Prep) added 10 points and seven rebounds while sophomore guard Nick Lord (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) contributed nine points.
 
Brandon Federici scored 21 points to pace the Diplomats (15-3, 9-2 CC), who were among the unranked teams "receiving votes" in the latest D3hoops.com Top-25 poll.
 
After three early lead changes, Franklin & Marshall took control with a 13-0 run that spanned over five minutes. A Federici 3-pointer made it 17-6 with 12:41 on the clock.
 
England broke the dry spell for the Bullets with a post-up lay-up at the 12:08 mark, but the Diplomats ran off a 7-0 spurt to go up 24-8 on a steal and lay-up from Federici.
 
After F&M pushed its lead to 17, Gettysburg trimmed the deficit to 11 after a 6-0 surge. England kicked off the run with a lay-up before Antolini converted back-to-back buckets, including an impressive reverse lay-up that made it 29-18 with 5:58 on the clock. But that's when the Diplomats closed the half with their decisive run to assume a 44-20 lead at the break.
 
Antolini led the Bullets with nine points at the half while England had eight points and six rebounds.
 
Gettysburg trailed 46-24 after a lay-up from senior forward Cameron Stewart (Sydney, Australia/Newington College) with 19:19 left. But Franklin & Marshall gradually pulled away, using an 18-7 run over the next nine minutes to open up its biggest lead of the night (64-41) with 10:35 remaining. The Bullets were unable to draw closer than 25 the rest of the way.
 
Gettysburg plays its first home game in 18 days on Saturday, when it takes on 11th-ranked Swarthmore College at 3 p.m.