HAVERFORD, Pa - The Haverford Men's basketball team (3-4, 1-2 CC) saw their valiant effort fall short in Centennial Conference action Saturday, as the Diplomats of Franklin & Marshall (6-0, 3-0 CC) defeated the Fords 70-63 inside Gooding '84 Arena.
Three-pointers were the common theme of the first half, as the Diplomats went 3-3 from three point land, to give F&M an early 9-0 advantage.
In a stretch starting at 14:35, fans at Gooding were treated to a five-minute stretch that saw six consecutive made three-pointers between the two teams. Starting off the bevy of treys, Jalen Green drained a three-pointer to push the Diplomat's lead to 14-4. Haverford was able to trim the lead down to 14-7 after Nicholas Stewart knocked down a triple of his own. However, F&M kept on the onslaught of shots from downtown, as Green drilled his second three-pointer of the half to extend the Diplomats lead to 17-7.
Gabriel Franklin wanted to join the three-point party, as the senior guard splashed a triple to bring the lead back to a seven-point buffer 17-10. Keeping their foot on the pedal, the Diplomats then knocked two threes in a row to go up 23-10. After a Clay Killoren two-point basket, Kevin Nowoswiat banged in yet another shot from deep to give F&M a 14-point lead; 26-12.
Down 31-18 with 4:49 to go in the first half, the Fords surged into halftime with a 10-2 run fueled by five key points from Franklin to head into the break down just five at 33-28. At the half, Franklin led the Scarlet and Black in scoring with 10 points, while his point-guard counterpart Vakaris Grauslys paced the Diplomats in scoring with 10 points as well.
F&M set the tone in the first-half by shooting 47 percent from behind the three-point arc, while Haverford stayed alive by shooting an impressive 77.8 percent from the charity stripe.
To start off the second-half, the Diplomats went right back to their bread and butter, as Grauslys stroked in his third shot from downtown to give F&M a 36-28 cushion. The three-pointer was part of a 7-2 Diplomat run to begin the second half. In that run, Grauslys hit his fourth three-pointer of the contest to give F&M another double-digit lead up 10 at 40-30.
Following a timeout, Haverford raced out to a 8-0 scoring stretch stemming from three more points by Franklin, and a clutch triple from Gaven Marr. The gut-punch by the Fords helped the hosts back within two at 40-38 with 13:05 to go in the contest.
The teams then traded baskets before a Sebastien Charles trey nudged F&M to a more comfortable 47-42 edge. More exchanging of baskets ensued from the two schools, until a clutch second chance layup from Grauslys increased the Diplomats' lead to 55-48 with 4:17 to go.
Two straight baskets from F&M propelled the scoring advantage back up to double-digits, with the visitors leading 59-48 with just over three minutes to go.
Another layup from Franklin clipped the Diplomat lead down to 66-58 with just 46 seconds to go. Unfortunately for the Fords, that would be the closest the Fords would get, as Franklin & Marshall was able to seal the victory at the free-throw line.
Grauslys led all scorers with 27, shooting 8-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-4 from downtown. His teammate Josh Parra pulled down 10 rebounds, while John Seidman totaled four helpers for the Diplomats.
Franklin had the upper hand in scoring for the Fords, as the Brooklyn, N.Y. native tallied 20 points in the contest. Logan Brown had quite the day at the office, collecting his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, due in part to a big second-half in the paint.
The Fords will be back in action Wednesday, December 6, as they travel to Allentown to take on Muhlenberg at Memorial Hall. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m. as the contest will follow the Haverford College Women's basketball game which will start at 6 p.m.