THE FACTS
Franklin & Marshall (15-3, 10-1 CC) 81, Gettysburg (13-5, 9-2 CC) 76
What: Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball game
When: Thursday, Jan. 25
Where: Lancaster, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Franklin & Marshall overcome an early deficit, turning a nine-point deficit into a four-point halftime edge before leading for the majority of the second half and defeating Gettysburg, 81-76.
THE LEADERS
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Akim Joseph (Port-au-Prince, Haiti/Notre Dame Fairfield [Conn.]) led the Bullets with his first collegiate double-double, registering 24 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
•
Jordan Stafford (Galloway, N.J./St. Joseph Hammonton) added 15 points.
•
Ryan McKeon (Landenberg, Pa./Sanford [Del.]) chipped in 14 points.
FOR THE FOES
• Vakaris Grauslys paced the Diplomats with 29 points and four assists.
• Josh Parra also reached the 20-point mark with 22 points.
THE REST OF THE STORY
• Baskets from four different players staked Gettysburg to a 13-4 lead through the game's first 3:44.
Akim Joseph and
Nate Williams (Morganville, N.J./St. John Vianney) each hit a pair of field goals in the opening run. Sebastian Charles and Sam Davison hit 3-pointers from each wing on consecutive possessions to close the deficit to 13-10 with 15:08 showing. Gettysburg pushed the lead back out to 17-10 before five straight from the Diplomats made it a two-point game with 13:17 showing but five more points from Williams keyed a 7-0 counter that stretched the lead to nine just two minutes later. In a 26-19 game, Vakaris Grauslys hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-4 burst that closed the deficit to one with 6:51 to play. A Kevin Nowoswiat layup eventually tied the game at 33-all with 2:56 remaining and spark an 8-2 run to the break, giving the hosts a 39-35 edge at the intermission.
• A Joseph second-chance layup made it a 41-38 game just 76 seconds into the second half but a goaltending call at other end pushed the lead back to five. Joseph drained a corner triple with 16:27 remaining to beat the shot clock and tie the game at 45-all. The teams traded runs before five straight Diplomat points opened up a 66-60 lead with 6:31 remaining. Nowoswiat drained a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to extend the advantage to 69-61 with 5:42 to play to all but seal the victory. The grew to as large as 10 before Gettysburg closed to within four on three occasions down the stretch. The deficit was 79-76 after Joseph's fourth triple with 9.4 seconds remaining but Grauslys hit both free throws for the five-point final margin.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Both teams shot better than 50 percent from the floor. The Bullets finished 52.7 percent while the Diplomats 51.8 percent.
• Franklin & Marshall completed the season sweep of Gettysburg and remained in a first-place tie with Johns Hopkins at 10-1 in conference play.
• All five Bullets starters finished in double figures.
Nate Williams and
Carl Schaller (Garnet Valley, Pa./Garnet Valley) rounded out the quartet with 11 and 10 points, respective.
• The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for Gettysburg.
NEXT UP
The Bullets return to action at home against Swarthmore on Saturday. Game time is 3 p.m.
