Ranked #10 in the latest D3hoops.com poll, F&M advances to face #17 Gwynedd Mercy, a 78-69 winner over SUNY-Old Westbury in the other semifinal, at 7:00 p.m. on January 4 in the title game. John Jay and SUNY-Old Westbury will square off at 5:00 p.m. in the consolation game.
Against John Jay, Wright helped lead F&M out to a 20-5 lead in the opening minutes of the first half as the Diplomats overcame a 3-2 deficit with a 13-0 run to never trail again as Franklin & Marshall carried a 46-26 lead into halftime.
F&M continued the roll in the second half outscoring the Bloodhounds 43-24 for the 39 point victory, the largest margin at any point during the game as the Diplomats improved to 6-1 on the year, 3-0 in Centennial Conference play.
Point guard Logan Outerbridge (So., Glen Rock, NJ/Glen Rock) chipped in 10 points, four rebounds and three assists, forward Brandon Smith (Jr., Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) tacked on 15 points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and a pair of steals, while reserve forwards Anthony Lacatena (Fr., Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield) and Bryan Teschke (So., Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) added 11 and 10 points, respectively, to round out the Diplomats double digit scorers.
In addition, center Danny Lynch (Sr., Richboro, PA/Council Rock) notched eight points, four rebounds and six assists and forward Derek Hines (Fr., Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township) chipped in four points and a game high 10 rebounds in the effort.
For John Jay, James Clark scored 14 points and Aramis Ramos added 12 points as the Bloodhounds fall to 2-8 on the year.
The keys to the game were F&M’s shooting, defense and rebounding as the Diplomats held a 39-33 advantage on the boards and a 6-2 lead in steals, while connecting on 51.6% from the field (32-of-62), 35.0% from beyond the arc (seven-of-20) and 85.7% at the line (18-of-21) while John Jay hit 33.9% (20-of-59) of its field goals, 30.8% (four-of-13) from beyond the arc and 66.7% (six-of-nine) at the charity stripe.
In the other opening round tilt, Gwynedd Mercy received 17 points and 17 rebounds from All-America center Badou Gaye in 39 minutes to overcome a 39-35 halftime deficit to SUNY-Old Westbury to outlast the Panthers 78-69.
Trailing by four at the break, the Griffins chipped away at the lead as Chris DelBrocco drained a three, hit a jumper, made a lay-up and hit for another three-pointer to put Gwynedd Mercy in front 43-41 with 16:15 left on the game clock. Old Westbury countered as Jared Weir banked in a three-pointer, but Gaye dropped in a lay-up and SUNY’s Sal Clark made field goals before GMC’s Jeff Thomas made a free throw to knot the game at 46-46 with 14:20 left.
The Griffins never trailed again as Joe Kilpatrick made a bucket before Thomas connected for a dunk and a jumper in a 6-0 run as the Panthers were unable to close to within four points the rest of the way as the Griffins improves to 8-1 on the year while SUNY-Old Westbury falls to 4-8.
Overall, four GMC players finished in double digits as DelBrocco added 12, Rashid Santiago notched 10 and Thomas tallied 16 points as the Griffins outscored SUNY-Old Westbury 43-30 in the second half for the nine point victory.
Russell Brereton led the Panthers with 17 points, while Ian Johnson, Clark and Weir chipped in 16, 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The victories set up a title game rematch of last year’s NCAA “Sweet 16” matchup between the Diplomats and Griffins as Franklin & Marshall knocked off Gwynedd Mercy 92-74 to advance to the Elite Eight last season.