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LANCASTER, PA - Center Steve Juskin (Jr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) tied a school record with 10 blocked shots as the Diplomats erased the team record with 19 swats as Franklin & Marshall College opened the 2003 Centennial Conference Men's Basketball Playoffs with a 92-62 rout of Washington College in the Mayser Center. Juskin's total ties his own school record set on November 20, 2001 in an 83-80 win over Elizabethtown College. In that game, Juskin blocked 10 shots, scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as the Diplomats handled the eventual Division III title game runner-ups. Further, the team's mark of 19 blocks erased the previous school record of 16 also established against the Blue Jays. Overall, Duran Searles (Jr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School) led the team in scoring with 15 points to lead four Diplomats in double-digits. Forward Frank Hughes (Sr., Annapolis, MD/US Naval Academy) and guard Brandon Smith (Fr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) both dropped in 13, and forward Bob Lynch (So., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) added 14 points as the Diplomats shot 39-of-66 (59.1%) from the floor, including four-of-eight from three-point range. The Diplomats (22-4, 10-3 CC) trailed early by a 5-2 tally following a three-pointer by Washington's Colin Camacho, but F&M rallied for an 8-5 lead before the Shoremen's David Horvath responded with a bucket to cut Franklin & Marshall College's lead to one with 15:34 remaining in the first half. However, the Diplomats responded with a 13-0 run over the next five minutes for a 21-7 lead, as Washington never cut the lead beyond six for the remainder of the game. The Shoremen were stagnant in the first half shooting 27.8 percent (10-of-36) from the floor as the Diplomats used six blocked shot performances from Juskin and guard Asaf Ganot (Sr., Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) as F&M swatted 13 first half shots. Searles added a block and a team high 10 first half points. Leading 28-22 with 6:03 remaining until halftime the Diplomats engineered another 13 point run as Searles arched in a three-pointer to ignite the F&M offense for a 41-22 lead on their way to a 45-27 lead at intermission. The lead never moved within 10 points in the second half as Hughes hit a basket 2:02 into the half, but Camacho drained a three for a 47-30 F&M lead. Again, the Diplomats responded to the Shoremen with a 7-0 run led by five points from guard Jackiem Wright (Jr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) to push the lead to 14.
Leading by as many as 35-points in the second half, the Diplomats
coasted to the victory to set up a matchup at Ursinus College
(20-6, 13-0 CC) which dropped Johns Hopkins University 78-62
in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Game time for the championship
game is set for 4:00 p.m. in Ursinus' Helfferich Hall on Saturday,
March 1.
For Washington, Horvath shot six-of-19 and three-of-10 from beyond the arc for 15 points to lead four Shoremen in double figures. John Alexander added 12, Camacho tallied 11 and Dustin Abbate chipped in 10 as the Shoremen conclude their season 10-16, 6-7 in Centennial Conference play. The key to the game versus the Shoremen was defense as the Diplomats held the Shoremen to a 29.2 shooting percentage (10-of-36) for the game, a dramatic change from the 50.8 percentage (31-of-61) F&M allowed Washington in a 96-86 loss in Chestertown, Maryland on February 1. In that game, Washington drained 10-of-26 from the three-point arc and 24-of-35 at the foul line as the Shoremen carried a 10-point lead into halftime to take the double-digit victory. In the rematch, F&M befuddled the Shoremen shooters with stingy defense as Washington made only nine-of-32 from beyond the arc as the team was forced to play catch-up from the opening 10 minutes of the game. In addition, F&M committed 13 personal fouls and allowed 11-of-16 at the free-throw line, half of the 26 foul total the Diplomats permitted in the first meeting between the two schools.
For Juskin, the game was a career defining contest as the 6-6 center, who was named with Ganot to the All-Centennial Conference first team, raised his career numbers to 202 blocks, 980 points and 512 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. In addition, he raised his school single season blocked shot record to 94, 35 more than his previous F&M record of 59 established last season. Historically, F&M will enter the CC title game at Ursinus looking for revenge. In the only regular season meeting between the two teams, Ursinus rallied from a 17-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to win an 83-82 upset over the Diplomats.
Ursinus, which is ranked #1 in the Mid-Atlantic Region, and F&M, #5 in the region and #20 in the nation, will square off for the sixth time in Collegeville and the second consecutive year in the Centennial Conference playoffs.
Last year, F&M routed the Bears 70-56 in the CC semifinals at the Mayser Center on their way to the Centennial Conference title game and the ECAC South Region Championship.
In the previous five meetings between the two schools as members of the Centennial Conference, F&M holds a 4-1 advantage as Ursinus held off the Diplomats 89-82 during the 2000 regular season as F&M advanced to the Centennial Conference title and NCAA Final Four.
In their last meeting in Collegeville, Franklin & Marshall handled Ursinus 52-46 during the regular season as the Diplomats hold a 10.2 point per game advantage over the course of the series' contests in Helfferich Hall.
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