Diplomats Squeak Past Garnet
SWARTHMORE, Pa. -- Garnet senior Raul Ordonez posted game-highs with 20 points and 13 rebounds as Swarthmore fell to visiting Franklin & Marshall 70-60 in Centennial Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon in Tarble Pavilion.
The afternoon matched two of the Centennial’s longest-tenured head coaches: Swarthmore’s Lee Wimberly and Franklin & Marshall’s Glenn Robinson. Both leaders joined colleagues from around the country in bring about awareness to the fight against cancer. The basketball coaching staffs made a fashion statement Saturday while helping to join the fight against cancer, joing in the Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers awareness weekend, a collaborative initiative of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the American Cancer Society.
The teams traded leads early on, with Swarthmore guard Michael Giannangeli (Potomac, Md. / Winston Churchill) hits three pointer at 9:04 to cut an early Diplomats lead to 18-17.
Neither team held a lead larger than four (4-0 Swarthmore at the start) until F&M snapped off a 7-0 run, capped by Mike Baker lay-up at 6:22 for the 25-17 lead. The Diplomats’ advantage grew to as big as 12 (40-28), after a Georgio Milligan lay-up with 55 seconds left.
Swarthmore wing Ryan Carmichael '11 (Portland, Maine / Portland) swung a tiny bit of momentum in favor of the Garnet, sinking his second buzzer-beater of the season. This one was two steps inside the half-court stripe and sent the teams into the break with the visitors ahead, 40-31.
The energetic Diplomats (17-2, 10-2 CC) seemed to put the contest away in the first three minutes of the second half, busting out an 8-0 run to hold the 50-33 advantage. The strong F&M frontline controlled the paint (40-20 advantage, 36-31 edge on the glass) and maintained a 15-point lead for much of the half.
Swarthmore scratched back to within eight after a Carmichael free throw at 1:41, but consecutive F&M fast-break buckets put the contest out of reach.
Ordonez (Miami, Fla. / Belen Jesuit) cared little that such a stout line was defending against him, imploring the Garnet men to continue the fight. He hit the 20-point plateau for the second time this season and posted his sixth double-double of the season for the Garnet (1-17, 0-12 CC). Carmichael added 15 points and four assists while junior guard Matt Allen (Seattle, Wash. / Lakeside) found double-digits for the third time in five games, adding 12 points for Swarthmore.
The Diplomats saw four players reach double-figures: wing Clay Scovill led F&M with 18 points while Anthony Brooks added 15 points, Baker scored 13 points with 11 rebounds and Milligan added 12 points, five assists and four steals.
Swarthmore takes to the road for its next three games, beginning with a mid-week contest in western Maryland. The Garnet visit Centennial-foe McDaniel on Wednesday, February 4 for a 7:00 p.m. game.
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