Excerpted from GoDiplomats.com, to view the full article, click here.
BALTIMORE – No. 14 Dickinson defeated No. 25 Franklin & Marshall 82-68 in a Centennial Conference (CC) Men's Basketball Semifinal matchup Friday evening. The Red Devils improved to 21-5 and face the winner of Johns Hopkins and Gettysburg in tomorrow's championship game while the Diplomats dropped to 20-6.
Dickinson jumped out to an early 10-3 lead just under three minutes into the game. F&M stayed close and came within four on a Morgan Lee layup at 12:51, but the Red Devils answered with six straight to take a 24-14 lead at 11:05. Brandon Federici's layup at 7:41 brought F&M to within six, 28-22, before Dickinson outscored F&M 7-1 over the next two minutes and took their largest lead of the half, 35-23, with 5:06 left in the first.
Jared Wright netted four points to fuel a 7-2 run to bring F&M within seven, 37-30, before two Gerry Wixted free throws made it 43-33 with 1:14 left in the half. F&M finished off the half with four straight to make it 43-37 at the break.
Hunter Eggers went 3-for-5 from behind the arc to lead the Diplomats with 11 first half points while Devin Figueroa netted six and Cedric Moune along with Federici each added five. Gerry Wixted paced Dickinson with 18 in the half.
F&M continued its run in the second and outscored Dickinson 6-3 to come within three, 46-43, on a Lee layup at 18:17. Dickinson responded with an 8-0 run and took a 54-43 lead at 16:18. The Diplomats stayed within striking distance and a Jared Wright triple brought F&M to within six, but the Red Devils countered and went up 10, 65-55, with 8:28 left in the game.
Eggers converted from beyond the arc on F&M's next possession to make it 65-58, but that was as close as F&M would get as the Red Devils netted seven straight and maintained a double-digit edge the remainder of the contest.
Eggers finished with a career-high 16 points for the Diplomats, shooting 5-for-9 from the floor. Moune chipped in 13 points and grabbed nine boards, while Federici finished with 11.
Wixted led all scorers with a game-high 29 points and Ted Hinnenkamp recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards for Dickinson.
F&M has a chance of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and will have to wait until Monday to find out its fate. The men's basketball selection show will be stream on Monday, March 2 at 12:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.