Men's Basketball Clinches CC Western Division Title with 78-48 Victory Over Dickinson

by Sports Information
2/19/03

LANCASTER, PA - Guard Jackiem Wright (Jr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) scored a game high 20 points off seven-of-11 shooting from the floor and five-of-seven from beyond the arc to lead #16 Franklin & Marshall College to a 78-48 rout of Dickinson College in Centennial Conference (CC) basketball action at the Mayser Center.

Center Steve Juskin (Jr, East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) added 16 points as the Diplomats (21-3, 10-2 CC) clinched the CC Western Division title as Franklin & Marshall will now face the #2 seed from the East on Wednesday, February 26 at the Mayser Center in the opening round of the Centennial Conference playoffs. Further, it marks the fifth straight season (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003) that the Diplomats have won the West Division.

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.

The Diplomats took the lead for good just 18 seconds into the game as Wright drained the first of a game high five three-pointers to a 3-0 lead. The margin quickly ballooned to ten points as F&M led by as many as 19 points in the first half to carry a 35-20 lead into halftime.

F&M continued the onslaught in the opening minutes of the second half with a 6-0 run behind lay-ups by forward Frank Hughes (Sr., Annapolis, MD/US Naval Academy), Juskin and guard Brandon Jones (Jr., Philadelphia, PA/Germantown Academy) for a 21-point lead with 17:10 to play. The lead grew to as many as 32 points as F&M claimed the 30-point win.

Guard/forward Asaf Ganot (Sr., Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) finished with seven points and nine boards Diplomats out-boarded the Red Devils 45-to-29, including a 34 to 20 advantage on the defensive glass.

Hughes and Jones added eight and three points, respectively, as F&M shot 28-of-52 from the field, including nine-of-14 from beyond the arc, while blocking six Dickinson shots to pick up their fifth straight victory.

Brad Litchfield scored a team high 14 points for Dickinson, which shot 16-of-56 from the floor and five-of-19 from three point range.

Franklin & Marshall will conclude the regular season on February 22 at Johns Hopkins University in a 4:00 p.m. game.