CARLISLE, Pa. - The Dickinson men's basketball team went in search of a huge Centennial win on Wednesday night against the conference-leading Diplomats of Franklin & Marshall College. Unfortunately, for the Red and White despite holding a 25-23 halftime lead they went on to shoot 6-of-24 over the final 20 minutes to let the visitors leave Carlisle with a 56-42 win at the Kline Center.
A mid-range jumper and three-pointer for
Andrew Gostovich got the home side off to an early 5-2 lead, before Vakaris Grauslys, Kevin Nowoswiat and John Seidman brought the visitors to the front 7-5. Consecutive triples for
Skyler Venezia helped DC take an 11-9 edge, but then a trey by Grauslys moved F&M back ahead (12-11) at the 6:46 mark. The game continued to seesaw back-and-forth with
Aaron Bailey knocking down a jay and
Brandon Wiercinski delivering from deep to make it 16-12. The Diplomats answered back with a 7-3 sprint as Omar Nichols and Seidman accounted for the points, while Venezia connected from deep to leave things tied at 19-19. Dickinson tallied five of the final seven points through
Nate Ogbu,
David Petrusev and
Randy Shephard to take a 25-23 lead into the break.
It took just 22-seconds into the second period for the Red and White to find the bottom of the net as Shephard made it 27-23, before an "old-fashioned" three-point play for Venezia stretch the margin to 30-25 with three minutes gone. Triples by Jaylen Green and Nowoswiat along with a bucket for Grauslys pushed F&M back ahead 33-30. Dickinson baskets for
Matt Mahoney, Petrusev and Venezia helped the hosts to chip away at the deficit as they trailed 37-36 with 8:28 off the clock. A minute later the Diplomats began to take control of the game as a foul shot for Green kicked off an 11-3 run ending on a Grauslys jumper to make it 48-39 inside seven minutes left. A layup for Venezia and free throw by Petrusev cut it down to 48-42, but that would be as close as DC would get as F&M closed on an 8-0 romp over the final 5:10 to set the 56-42 result.
Red Devil Leaders
Points - Venezia (19)
Assists - Gostovich and Ogbu (4)
Rebounds - Ogbu (12), Petrusev (7), Venezia (5)
Diplomat Leaders
Points - Grauslys (17)
Assists - Seidman (3), Charles (2)
Rebounds - Parra (11), Grauslys (10)
Next on the Court
Dickinson (6-10, 3-6 Centennial) will return to action on Saturday afternoon at 3pm when they head to Swarthmore College for a conference contest against the Garnet.
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