Men's Basketball Ranks Fifth in FInal NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Poll

by Sports Information
2/26/03

LANCASTER, PA - The Franklin & Marshall College men’s basketball team is ranked fifth in the February 25 NCAA Men's Basketball Mid-Atlantic Poll.

Ranked #20 in the February 25 D3Hoops.com national poll, Franklin & Marshall is one of three Centennial Conference teams in the NCAA poll as Ursinus (1st) and Johns Hopkins (Honorable Mention) are also among the top 10 teams in the region.

The ranking marks a one spot drop for F&M, which was third last week. This week, Ursinus, Catholic, DeSales, Mary Washington, F&M and Scranton rounded out the top six teams in the region.

One of the most successful intercollegiate basketball programs in Division III history, Franklin & Marshall defeated Dickinson (78-48) to clinch the Centennial Conference West Division, but fell at Johns Hopkins (68-65).

The division championship marked the fifth straight season the Diplomats have claimed the West (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003).

In the history of the Centennial Conference, F&M has won the CC West eight times (1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003) to tie Muhlenberg's record of eight division titles as the Mules claimed the East in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.

F&M is led by center Steve Juskin (Jr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) and guard/forward Asaf Ganot (Sr., Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly). Juskin paces the Diplomats in scoring (15.9 per game) as the 6-6 center also tops F&M in blocked shots with 84, 25 more than his previous school record of 59 established in 2002. For his career, Juskin now has 192 blocks, 972 points and 508 rebounds as he is on pace to become the ninth player in F&M men's basketball history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career.

Overall, he ranks among the Conference leaders in scoring (15.9, seventh), rebounding (7.4, seventh), field goal percentage (.488, 13th), assists (2.40, 14th), blocked shots (3.36, first), offensive rebounds (2.00, 11th) and defensive rebounds (5.44, fifth).

The Diplomats "stopper", Ganot has been a force on both ends of the court leading F&M in assists (98), steals (44), rebounds (201) and offensive boards (65) while averaging 8.6 points per game.

In the Centennial Conference, Ganot is among the leaders in rebounding (8.4, sixth), field goal percentage (.520, 11th), assists (3.92, fourth), steals (1.76, fifth), blocked shots (1.48, fourth), assist/turnover ratio (2.80, first), offensive rebounds (2.60, sixth) and defensive rebounds (5.44, fifth) per game.

Guard Jackiem Wright (Jr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) leads the CC in free throw percentage (.898, 53-of-59) and rates in the top fifteen in points (13.9, 11th), three-point field goal percentage (.451, third), and three-point field goals made (2.92, second) per game.

At point guard, Duran Searles (Jr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) has directed the Diplomats offense to an average of 82.2 points per game, the best average in the CC this year.

Individually, Searles is one of three Diplomats scoring in double-digits as he has made 82-of-169 field goal attempts and 58-of-73 from the line for 260 points, an average of 10.4 marks per game.

Off the bench, the guards Brandon Jones (Jr., Philadelphia, PA/Germantown Friends), Brandon Smith (Fr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) and forward Bob Lynch (So., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) have ignited the F&M offense in limited minutes.

In 19.6 minutes per game, Lynch is shooting a team best 88-of-139 (.633 percentage) for 9.3 points and is grabbing 7.4 boards, while Smith is averaging 7.6 points 45 assists and 72 rebounds.

As a team the Diplomats rank among the CC's best in scoring offense (82.2, first), scoring defense (63.2, first), scoring margin (+19.0, first), free throw percentage (.710, third), field goal percentage (.492, first), field goal percentage defense (.398, first), three-point field goal percentage (.408, first), three-point field goals made (6.60, fourth), three-point field goal percentage defense (.310, first), rebounding offense (40.8, second), rebounding defense (32.5, second), rebounding margin (+8.3, second), blocked shots (6.76, first), assists (16.24, second), steals (9.52, first), turnover margin (+2.92, first), assist/turnover ratio (1.06, first), offensive rebounds (13.40, third and defensive rebounds (27.36, second) per game as the 2003 F&M squad is among the most statistically dominant teams in the history of the Conference.

Franklin & Marshall will continue the season on Wednesday, February 26 as the Diplomats will play host to East #2 seed Washington College in the semi-finals of the CC playoffs, while West #2 Johns Hopkins travels to East Champion Ursinus. Game time for both contests is set for 7:30 p.m.

The NCAA Regional poll is selected each week by John Dzik (Cabrini), Mark Coleman (Drew), Alfred Johnson (St. Mary's), Dave Martin (College Misericordia), Brad McAlester (Lebanon Valley) and Kevin Small (Ursinus) from January until the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.

NCAA Men's Basketball Mid-Atlantic Region Poll (Final Poll)
Rk. School Region Record Overall Record
1. Ursinus 17-1 19-6
2. Catholic 18-2 22-3
3. DeSales 19-4 20-5
4. Mary Washington 15-3 21-4
5. Franklin & Marshall 19-3 21-4
6. Scranton 15-5 20-5

Honorable Mention: Johns Hopkins (12-4, 18-6); Neumann (13-5, 15-10); Neumann (14-5, 16-9); Susquehanna (16-6, 17-7)