Diplomats Set to Make Centennial Conference Title Run as Men's Basketball Playoffs Open

by Sports Information
2/24/03

LANCASTER, PA - The Franklin & Marshall College men's basketball team will look to capture their fourth Centennial Conference playoff title when the Diplomats host Washington College at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the semi-finals of the Centennial Conference playoffs.

The Diplomats (21-4, 10-3 CC) earned a spot in the postseason by defeating Dickinson College on February 19 to capture their fifth straight Western Division Championship (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.

Washington defeated F&M in the two teams only meeting of the season as the Shoremen shot 10-of-26 from three-point range, including four-of-10 by David Horvath, to upset then #15 ranked F&M 96-86 in Chestertown, Maryland.

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.

A balanced attack, the Diplomats shooting guard should play a significant role in F&M's playoff hopes as 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 been a guard directing 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.

Down low, 6-6 forward Frank Hughes (Sr., Annapolis, MD/US Naval Academy) has been a presence in the paint scoring 8.2 points and pulling down 4.8 boards while neutralizing the opponents' big men.

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.

On the bench, F&M head coach Glenn Robinson will be looking for his 645th career victory against Washington as the veteran is now 644-230 in his career, 23 wins away from surpassing Dennie Bridges of Illinois Wesleyan (666) for second all-time in Division III victories.

The East Division #2 seed, Washington College will enter the Mayser Center trailing 24-10 in the all-time series and 1-2 in the playoff series between the two teams.

F&M claimed the last meeting in the post-season as Jerome Maiatico '00 hit a last second shot in Lancaster in a 87-85 win during the 2000 season as the Diplomats defeated Hopkins (75-67) in the CC title tilt to make the NCAA Tournament and advance to the Final Four.

In 1999, Washington knocked off host F&M 77-71 in the semi-finals, but the Diplomats earned an NCAA At-Large bid to make the national championship tournament where they handled Hopkins (81-66) before falling to Wilkes 77-58 in the second round.

The two teams first met in the playoffs in 1994 when the Diplomats eked out a 72-71 semi-finals victory on their way to defeating Hopkins in the CC title game (63-61) and earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Historically, Washington is 1-7 at Franklin & Marshall, including an 80-71 defeat on January 26, 2002 in the pairings last meeting at Mayser.

For the Shoremen, David Horvath leads the team in scoring (14.9) as four Washington players are averaging double-digits. Colin Camacho (14.4), John Alexander (13.6) and Jonathan Webb (12.5) round out the top scorers, while Alexander and Webb lead the team in rebounding with averages of 5.5 and 5.0 boards per game, respectively.

The shortest team in the Conference with no player taller than 6'4", Washington is averaging 77.7 points per game with a .390 field goal percentage (649-of-1666) while allowing opponents to shoot 730-of-1529 from the floor (.477 percent).

On the road, the Shoremen have struggled compiling a CC worst 2-10 record, a bad omen versus a Franklin & Marshall College team which is 13-2 at home this year and 138-18 in Mayser since the CC's inception in 1994.

However, with Washington's 10-point upset of the Diplomats earlier this year, the Shoremen have a good omen as the last team to defeat F&M in the regular season and then play the Diplomats in the semi-finals was the 1998 Muhlenberg College Mules. The Mules kicked the Diplomats 76-68 in Allentown during the regular season, and pounded out a 90-80 overtime win in the Lehigh Valley to advance past the semi-finals.

In F&M's last two playoff appearances, Franklin & Marshall is 1-2 as Muhlenberg ousted the #1 seeded Diplomats 76-58 at Mayser in the 2001 playoffs, while F&M handled Ursinus 70-56 in Lancaster during last year's semi-finals before falling to Gettysburg 50-47 at home in the CC title game.

Ticket prices for all rounds of the Centennial Conference playoffs are $4 for adults (18 and over), $2 for students (13-18 without ID) and free for all students of participating schools with ID and youths 12 and under.