LANCASTER, Pa. - The Dickinson men's basketball team attempted to rally back from a 12-point second-half deficit after letting a 29-27 halftime edge slip away on Saturday afternoon at conference rival Franklin & Marshall College. Unfortunately for the Red and White despite putting three players in double-digits a buzzer-beating game-tying layup fell just short allowing the Diplomats to leave the Mayser Center with a slim 65-63 win.
- Things were rolling for the home side early as they took a 12-4 lead over the opening six minutes with the only DC points coming from Joey Dopirak and Juan Ruiz.
- Dickinson spent the next five minutes chipping away at the deficit as eight points for Ryan Leskauskas and a jumper from Andrew Cerullo aided a 10-4 Red Devils charge to close within 16-14 at the 11:28 mark.
- After five straight for the home side, Brandon Wiercinski joined Dopirak and Ruiz on an 8-0 run to bring the visitors to the front by the smallest of margins at 22-21 inside of five minutes left.
- An "old-fashioned" three-point play for Vakaris Grauslys made it 24-22, but Leskauskas, Ruiz and Wiercinski responded by scoring seven of the final ten points to take a 29-27 advantage to the break.Â
- A single foul shot from Dopirak would be Dickinson's only basket for the first 4:49 as the home side embarked on a 15-1 rampage as they took a 42-30 lead.
- Cole Cosby then accompanied Cerullo and Dopirak to trim the gap down to 44-37 with 13:01 left.
- Dickinson continued to chip away as Luis Ruiz joined Cerullo and Leskauskas helped to make it 49-46 at the 10:55 mark.
- Five points from Kevin Nowoswiat and two each for Josh Parra and Grauslys allowed the Diplomats extend their lead out to eight at 58-50 inside of five minutes to play.
- Once again though the Red and White did not go away as four straight by Dopirak coupled with contributions from Leskauskas and J. Ruiz made the score 63-60.
- Following a free throw for Grauslys (64-60), Wiercinski finished at the rim before Leskauskas knocked down one of two at the charity line leaving the margin of just one 64-63 with only 15 seconds left.
- A foul shot put home by Grauslys pushed it to 65-63, but still left DC a chance to tie the game unfortunately the shot at the horn just missed allowing F&M to close out the win.
- Points - Leskauskas (19), Dopirak (15), J. Ruiz (12)
- Rebounds - Wiercinski (9), L. Ruiz and J. Ruiz (6), Dopirak (4)
- Assists - Wiercinski (3), Four players tied (2)
- Blocks - Leskauskas and J. Ruiz (1)
- Points - Grauslys (17), Nowoswiat (13), Cormac and Parra (12)
- Rebounds - Nowoswiat (11), Parra (5), Donahue (4)
- Assists - Seidman (7), Nowoswiat (3)
- Blocks - Parra (2)
- Dickinson (6-11, 1-4 Centennial) returns to the Kline Center on Wednesday night at 8pm to take on the Blue Jays of Johns Hopkins University in conference action.
