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LANCASTER, PA - #20 nationally ranked Franklin & Marshall College has accepted a bid as #1 seed in the eight team 2003 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) South Region Men's Basketball Championship Tournament. The Tournament field is rounded out by DeSales (#2), Penn State-Behrend (#3), Grove City (#4), Neumann (#5), Thiel (#6), College Misericorida (#7) and Moravian (#8). The Diplomats will open the tournament on Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. versus Moravian in the Mayser Center. If the Diplomats win, F&M will then host the semifinals (Saturday, 2 & 4 p.m.) and title game (Sunday, 2 p.m.). On Saturday, the winner of the F&M-Moravian game will face the victor of the Neumann-Grove City game at 4 p.m., with the winners of the DeSales-Misericordia and Behrend-Thiel games taking the court at 2:00 p.m. It marks the second straight year that the F&M men's basketball team will participate in the ECAC tournament as the Diplomats missed a NCAA Championship berth on Sunday. In last year's ECAC Tournament, the Diplomats earned the #1 seed and defeated Lebanon Valley (71-59) in the semifinals and Kings College (82-65) in the championship game to claim the title at the Mayser Center. F&M (22-5, 10-3 Centennial Conference), which lost 96-88 OT in the Centennial Conference Championship to Ursinus on Saturday in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, will look to defend their title and win the second Franklin & Marshall's second ECAC Championship of the year following the Women's Soccer South Region Championship in the fall. Leading the way for F&M has been guard Asaf Ganot (Sr., Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) and center Steve Juskin (Jr., East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park). A first team All-Centennial Conference selection this year, Juskin leads the Diplomats in scoring (15.3 per game) as the 6-6 center also tops F&M in blocked shots with 98, 39 more than his previous school record of 59 established in 2002. He leads F&M in double-doubles with five, as he scored 15+ points 15 times and pulled down 10+ boards six times, including a season best 28 points at Washington College (2/1/03) and 12 rebounds at Lincoln University (1/23/03). He was named the CC Player of the Week on January 13 and earned a spot on the Conference Honor Roll on five other occasions throughout the year. In addition, he earned honors on the January 14 ECAC Honor Roll and was one of five players selected for the January 13 D3Hoops.com National Team of the Week. For his career, Juskin now has 206 blocks, 989 points and 519 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. The Diplomats defensive "stopper" and a member of the All-Centennial First Team, Ganot has been a force on both ends of the court leading F&M in assists (108), steals (48), rebounds (214), defensive boards (144) and offensive boards (70) while averaging 8.6 points per game. In the Centennial Conference, he is among the leaders in rebounding, field goal percentage, assists, steals, blocked shots, assist/turnover ratio, offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds per game. He led the Diplomats in rebounding 14 times this season, including a season high 14 boards in a 82-78 double-overtime victory at 2002 National Championship game runner-up Elizabethtown College on November 26. A member of the January 20 Centennial Conference Honor Roll, Ganot has 486 points, 444 rebounds, 148 steals and 210 assists in his career while ranking second all-time at the College with 116 blocked shots. As a freshman in 2000, he helped lead the team to the 2000 Centennial Conference Championship and the NCAA Final Four. Other Diplomats to watch in the tournament will be guard Jackiem Wright (Jr., Sicklerville, NJ/Moorestown Friends) and point guard Duran Searles (Jr., Camden, NJ/Peddie School). A second year transfer from Division I LaSalle University, Wright leads the CC in free throw percentage (.912) making 62-of-68 shots at the line.
The only F&M player to register 30 or more points this season, Wright recorded point totals of 34 (vs. Lincoln, 1/4/03) and 30 (vs. Muhlenberg, 12/7/02) for the 24th and 25th 30+ point games in F&M men's basketball history and the first since Searles scored 33 versus Elizabethtown on November 18, 2000. Wright is second on the team in scoring (14.0 ppg) and field goals (119) and first in three-pointers made (79) and attempted (176).
In only 56 career games in an F&M uniform, he ranks ninth in career three-point baskets with 118, two away from passing two-time All-America selection Alex Kraft '02 for eighth place on the all-time list. He was named the CC Player of the Week on December 9 and February 18 and garnered spots on the January 6 Conference and December 10 ECAC Honor Rolls. At point guard, Searles has directed the Diplomats offense to an average of 82.8 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 93-of-196 field goal attempts and 61-of-77 from the line for 289 points, an average of 10.7 marks per game. For his career, Searles ranks fourth in three-point field goals with 137, two away from passing Jerome Maiatico '00 for third on the all-time list, and 12th in assists with 239, one away from passing Kevin DiCello ' 94 for 11th and seven short of passing Allen Taylor '83 for 10th. On the bench, F&M head coach Glenn Robinson, the winningiest active coach in Division III, will be looking for his 646th career victory against Moravian as the veteran coach i is now 645-231 in his career, 22 wins away from surpassing Dennie Bridges of Illinois Wesleyan (666) for second all-time in Division III victories.
Moravian (16-10, 9-5 MAC) is led by sophomore forward Brandon Zaleski who is averaging 18.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game to lead three Greyhounds in double-digits as sophomore guard Ken Greb (12.1 ppg) and junior guard Steve Weiler (11.7 ppg) are also averaging 10+ points per contest.
The Greyhounds are coached by Jim Walker who has compiled a 332-270 record in a 24 year career, including a 317-260 mark in 23 years at Moravian.
Historically, Franklin & Marshall holds a 47-25 advantage in the series with Moravian, including 11-straight wins from 1988-1993 entering the ECAC first round contest. The two teams last played on February 10, 1993 when the Diplomats downed the Greyhounds 68-53 in Middle Atlantic Conference Southwest play as F&M advanced to the NCAA "Sweet 16". The Greyhounds last recorded a victory over F&M on February 4, 1988 with a 74-59 win in the Mayser Center. The Diplomats avenged the loss with a 75-68 win in the MAC Championship game to advance to the NCAA Regional Title game where they dropped a 61-47 decision to the University of Scranton. Tickets for the first two rounds of the tournament are $2 for 12 and over and free for youths 12 and under and all students of participating schools with ID. Admission to the title game is $4, with youths under 12 and student with ID admitted free
2003 ECAC SOUTH REGION CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Wednesday, March 5
#8 Moravian (16-10) @ #1 F&M (22-5) 7:30 p.m.
#7 College Misericordia (16-11) @ #2 DeSales (21-6)
#6 Thiel (16-11) @ #3 Penn State-Behrend (19-8)
#5 Neumann (17-10) @ #4 Grove City (18-8)
Saturday (@ Franklin & Marshall College)
Game 1 - Winners of Misericordia/DeSales vs. Thiel/Penn State 2:00 p.m.
Game 2 - Winners of Neumann/Grove City vs. Moravian/F&M 4:00 p.m. Sunday (@ Franklin & Marshall College)
Winner of Game 1 @ Game 2 2:00 p.m.
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