No. 23 Franklin & Marshall 73, Lebanon Valley 67

LVC Starters
Davis, Light, Barwin, Boccanfuso, Orr

F&M Starters
Federici, Stoma, Eggers, Owona, Tate

How It Happened
No. 23 Franklin & Marshall escaped Sorrentino Gymnasium with a slim 73-67 victory over Lebanon Valley on Sunday evening, Nov. 27.

Behind Brandon Federici's six first-half three-pointers, F&M (3-1) jumped out to a nine-point advantage in the early going but the Flying Dutchmen (2-3) slowed the visitors' early sharpshooting and climbed back into it thanks to contributions from the team's bench.

Ricky Bugg, Andrew Eberhart, and Chris Anderson logged crucial first-half minutes and Eberhart in particular made his presence known by scoring nine points before the break, including a jumper from beyond the arc that put LVC ahead 35-31 at the 1:56 mark.

The Diplomats ended the half on a 7-2 and Hunter Eggers knocked down a triple with 17 seconds remaining to reclaim the advantage for the visitors and give F&M a 38-37 lead heading into halftime.

Franklin & Marshall was strong to begin the second half and grabbed its first double-digit advantage of the game when Ignas Slyka knocked down a three-ball that made it 56-44 with 12:45 left to play. It proved to be F&M's largest lead of the contest.

LVC settled down in the final 10 minutes as Andy Orr shook off some early foul trouble and came to life to the tune of 11 points, four rebounds, two blocks, and two steals in the second half. Orr's surge coupled with Sam Light's team-high 25 points kept the Dutchmen within striking distance in crunch time and Light's contested jumper amongst the trees drew LVC to within three at 69-66 with 1:28 remaining.

Lebanon Valley trailed by four with 30 seconds left and Federici was off the mark on a pair of free throws but F&M got a clutch offensive rebound from JC McGrath to retain possession and force LVC to continue fouling down the stretch.

Inside the Numbers
- LVC entered the game shooting better than 80 percent from the foul line but managed just a 65.6 percent clip from the stripe (21-32) against F&M.
- Both teams were solid from the field, with the Dips shooting 51 percent from the floor and the Dutchmen managing a 45.7 percent total.
- Both teams were also sloppy with the ball as Franklin & Marshall turned it over 20 times and Lebanon Valley recorded 18 turnovers.
- Sam Light was LVC's high-scorer with 25 points on better than 50 percent shooting from the field. He also swiped three steals.
- After a slow start due to foul trouble, Andy Orr came to life in the second half and finished with 15 points, five rebounds, a game-high four blocks, and a pair of steals.
- Andrew Eberhart netted a career-high nine points, while fellow reserve Ricky Bugg added seven valuable markers off the bench.
- Will Boccanfuso swiped a game-high four steals to go along with his eight rebounds and six points.
- F&M's Brandon Federici was the game's leading scorer with 29. He was 7-10 from beyond the arc, including six first-half treys.
- Julius Stoma was the only other Diplomat to reach the double-digit scoring mark with 10. Matthew Tate added a game-high eight assists.
- Sunday was the first meeting between the former longtime conference rivals since the 2009-10 season.

Who's Next?
The Dutchmen begin MAC Commonwealth play when they host Widener at Sorrentino Gymnasium on Wednesday night.