Diplomats Advance to CC Title Game
Feb 28, 2009
LANCASTER, Pa. - Anthony Brooks scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while shooting 8-for-8 from the line to lead No. 23 Franklin & Marshall to a 87-79 win over Muhlenberg in the Centennial Conference (CC) semifinals on Saturday.
The Diplomats (22-4) advance to their ninth overall CC Championship game and first since 2005. F&M will battle Gettysburg for the conference crown tomorrow at 3 p.m. The Bullets were a 79-58 winner over McDaniel in the first semifinal of the day.
Four other players were in double figures for the Diplomats, including Mike Baker (Maryland Heights, MO/Whitfield School) with 18 points and team-high nine boards.
Spencer Liddic led the Mules (16-11) with 15 points and nine rebounds. Brian Frankoski came off the bench to score 13 points.
F&M set a program record for most free throws attempted with 58, while making 37 shot from the line for second most free-throws made according to the record books.
With a one-point lead at 63-62 with 5:35 left to play, the Diplomats went 16-for-25 from the free throw line to pull away from Muhlenberg, and take one step closer to winning their fifth Centennial title and 16th overall conference championship.
Selig started the free-throw frenzy, going 1-for-2 to set up the offensive rebound by Clay Scovill and the three-pointer by Steve Tolliver for a 67-62 lead. Georgio Milligan and Brooks exchanged baskets for the last F&M field goals of the game at the 2:56 mark.
From there, the Diplomats relied on their shooting from the charity stripe while fighting off the Mules' three pointers to hold on for the win.
F&M was hoping the beginning of the first half would be the pace for the game, jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the first 4:30. Muhlenberg went 1-for-11 from the field and got on the board with a triple by Ryan Foster at the 12:46 mark.
The Diplomats kept the steady lead, but Frankoski completed a three-point play and on the next possession drove in for the layup before Liddic added two points to make it 16-12. The Mules battled to get within one at 19-18 and F&M responded with a 9-2 run to push the lead back to eight points with 2:53 until halftime.
Muhlenberg held the Diplomats scoreless for two minutes and gathered five points on a Darrell Roth triple and Chris McIntosh layup. Scovill got the last point of the half on a free throw to take a 29-25 edge into the locker rooms.
There was a combined 61 fouls called on the day. F&M finished 37-for-58 and the Mules went 22-for-30. Scovill and Milligan finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively. James McNally added 11.
