Boxscore

(Carlisle, Pa.) – The Dickinson College men's basketball team suffered a tough loss in the regular season finale, falling to visiting Franklin & Marshall, 63-53, on Saturday afternoon. The Red Devils honored senior captain Chris Heine (Spring Lake, N.J./St. Rose) prior to the game, celebrating the team's second straight Centennial Conference playoff berth.

The Diplomats were anything but in the early going, storming out to a quick 9-2 lead, and holding a 21-2 advantage at the 13:21 mark of the first half. F&M held a double-digit lead for almost the remainder of the first half. Sophomore Adam Honig (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley) scored and was fouled at the end of the first half. He hit the free throw to pull the Devils within nine at the break, 35-26.

First-year Gerry Wixted (Moorestown, N.J./Lawrenceville School) opened the second half with a three-point bomb from the corner and Heine knocked-down another to cut the F&M lead to 35-32, just two minutes into the period.

F&M answered before Honig drained a three-pointer to knot the game, 39-39, with 11:57 remaining. The game was tied again at the 8:04 mark before a 10-2 run put the Diplomats up, 52-44. Dickinson would come as close as four down the stretch, and trailed just 58-53 with 1:13 to play.

The Diplomats were solid at the line, however, converting 5-of-6 in the final minute to secure the win. F&M (23-2, 16-2) had already locked up the top seed in the Centennial Conference playoffs. Georgio Milligan led the Diplomats with 26 points while Jon Salandra added 13 points and nine rebounds.

Wixted led the Red Devils with 18 points and seven rebounds, hitting 10-of-12 free throws. He added another streak of 21 straight free throws made, holding three spots on the school top 10 list for consecutive free throws made. He is tied for second with 26 straight, adding runs of 23 and 21 as well this season.

Honig scored 14 points behind a trio of three-pointers and dished out a pair of assists. Sophomore Tucker Landy (Durham, Conn./Xavier) scored 10 points and added six rebounds while classmate Thomas McInerney (York, Pa./York Suburban) tallied eight points, hitting 4-of-6 free throws.

The Red Devils slip to 14-11 overall and 11-7 in the conference. They will be the #3-seed next Friday, facing #2-seed Muhlenberg College at 6:00 pm at Franklin & Marshall. The host Diplomats will face the winner of the Washington-Johns Hopkins first round game on Wednesday. The other semifinal is scheduled for 8:00 pm.