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LANCASTER, PA - Guard Jackiem Wright (Jr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) scored 16 points to lead five Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball players in double-digits as the Diplomats (7-1) defeated St. Mary's College of Maryland (1-6) 112-67 in the opening round of the 2003 Lancaster Rotary Tip-Off the New Year Tournament, presented by Lancaster General Hospital. Wright, who shot four-of-10 from the field, including three-of-eight from three-point range, paced the Diplomats in the first half as the junior drained three-of-six from long range and four-of-four from the foul line for 15 points as the Diplomats built a 59-22 lead at intermission. In the half, the Diplomats pulled out to a 35-8 lead capped by a three-point basket by point guard Duran Searles (Jr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) as the Diplomats never trailed in the game. Overall, center Steve Juskin (Jr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) chipped in 15 points, forward Frank Hughes (Sr., Annapolis, MD/US Naval Academy) added 14, guard Brandon Smith (Fr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) tallied 10 and forward Bob Lynch (So., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) registered 14 to reach double-digits, while guard/forward Asaf Ganot (Sr., Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) pulled down a game high 10 rebounds as the #20 nationally ranked Diplomats claimed their seventh straight game to advance to an 8:00 p.m. showdown with Lincoln University of Pennsylvania in the Rotary Tournament title game on Saturday, February 4. Lincoln advanced to face the host Diplomats due to a 73-72 last second victory over #35 nationally ranked St. John Fisher (6-1) off a buzzer-beating half-court three-point shot by Linwood Gilmore. Trailing 36-27 at halftime, the Lions used 18-second half points from Shaub Abdur-Rahman to pull within two points at 71-69 with one minute left on the clock.
St. John Fisher had a chance to finish off Lincoln with 36 seconds left on the clock, but Jeff Sidney threw a cross-court pass out of bounds to give the ball back to the Lincoln. With 5.4 seconds left on the clock, the Cardinals Nick Ripple fouled the Gilmore who made the first, but missed the second free throw. Rahman immediately fouled St. John's Frank Stirpe to stop the clock with 3.7 seconds left and put Stirpe on the free throw line. Leading 71-70, Stirpe rimmed out his first attempt and made the second to push the lead to 72-70, keep the clock stopped and give the Lions the ball with a last second hope of tying the game and forcing overtime. Following the in-bounds, the Lions quickly moved the ball to halfcourt with three passes before Gilmore dribbled twice and launched a halfcourt buzzer beater which sank as the final horn sounded to give Lincoln a stunning 73-72 upset of St. John Fisher and set up a Rotary Tournament Championship matchup between F&M and the Lions. Historically, F&M is 2-0 in Rotary Tournament Championship games versus Lincoln as the Lions fell 90-66 in 1997 and 92-79 in 2000. Further, it will mark the fourth straight year that F&M and Lincoln will meet in the Rotary Tournament as the Diplomats caged the Lions in the first round 88-57 in 2001 and 67-59 in 2002 on their way to the title. In the consolation game, St. Mary's will meet St. John Fisher at 6:00 p.m. prior to the 8:00 p.m. championship game. Presented by Lancaster General Hospital, the 2003 Tip-Off the New Year Tournament is sponsored by the benefit of the Lancaster Community by the Rotary Club of Lancaster. Admission is $5 for adults and $1 for students and children each night.
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