LANCASTER, Pa. – The Haverford College men's basketball team fell to host Franklin & Marshall College, 78-65, in Centennial Conference action Saturday. Despite placing three in double-figures the Fords could not overcome F&M's hot shooting.

Cam Baker led Haverford (5-5, 3-2 CC) with 19 points while Sam Permutt scored 18 points and collected seven rebounds. Brett Cohen scored 11 points off the bench and went 5-for-10 from the field.

F&M (7-1, 4-0) had four starters reach double-digits, led by James McNally's 20 points on 7-for-9 shooting from the field. Brandon Beckford and Georgio Milligan scored 15 points apiece while Mike Baker added 14.

The Fords' lone lead of the contest came two minutes in when Lekan O-Nicholson hit a three-pointer for a 5-4 lead. Baker hit a jumper on the Diplomats' next possession and F&M never trailed again.

It was a one-point game near the 14-minute mark when Cohen made a jumper, but another jumper by Baker sparked a 15-5 F&M run over the next seven-plus minutes which made the difference. The Diplomats led 33-19 with less than eight minutes to go, but the Fords got within nine when Baker hit a free throw to finish off a three-point play. F&M quickly saw its lead go back up to 15 and it sat at 13 heading into the break after a Cohen layup with 1:44 showing.

F&M extended its lead to as many as 21 in the second half. The Fords got within 13 a few times and 12 once after an Ian Goldberg trey and a Baker layup near the midway point. Cohen's layup with 27 seconds remaining pulled HC within 11, the closest the Fords got in the half, but Max Brewer hit a pair of free throws to provide the final margin.

The Diplomats shot near 60 percent in the first half and cooled down to a respectable 40 percent in the second stanza. Haverford struggled (2-for-15) from three-point range, but made up for it by muscling 44 points in the paint.

The Fords are off until Monday, Jan. 3, 2011 when they host Immaculata University at 7 p.m.