COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall senior forward Hayk Gyokchyan scored a game and career-high 36 points as the 11th-ranked Diplomats (5-0, 2-0 Centennial) defeated Ursinus (2-3, 1-1 Centennial) 68-63 Thursday night in Centennial Conference men's basketball action.
Ursinus, down eight with 40 seconds to go, rallied all the way to within two points with just 14 seconds left. However, the Diplomats converted a foul shot and a three-pointer by Ursinus junior guard Pat Vasturia with six seconds left in double coverage from the left corner just missed and F&M held on.
The Bears were led by freshman guard Malik Draper who had a team-high 17 points, while freshman guard Mark Wonderling had 11 points off the bench.
F&M also got ten points from junior guard Matt Porter and six each from senior guard Brandon Beckford and junior guard Jon Salandra.
F&M did lead wire-to-wire in the game, going up by as much as 12 points in the second half with 11:47 to go at 47-35 on a basket by Porter.
In the first half, Ursinus trailed by as much as eight points before going on a 8-0 run to tie the score at 17-all with 6:47 left on a three-pointer by Draper. F&M would go back up four, but, Ursinus would again tie the score at 21-all with 3:30 left.
Ursinus held F&M to just one field goal over the last 2:07 of the first half, but, would not be able to convert a field goal over a 3:30 span and trailed at the half by one, 26-25.
The rally started when Vasturia hit a three-pointer with 32 seconds to go to make the score 63-58. After a foul by Vasturia, Gyokchyan made 1-of-2 foul shots to go up 64-58 with 28 seconds left.
Ursinus senior guard Matt Donahue hit a three-pointer with 25 seconds left to get Ursinus with three at 64-61. A foul by Donahue resulted in senior guard Max Brewer making 1-of-2 foul shots to give F&M a four-point lead at 65-61.
From there, Donahue missed a three-pointer, but, senior forward Jon Ward put in a rebound to get Ursinus within two at 65-63.
Ward finished with eight points, as did junior point guard Jesse Krasna. Krasna finished with seven assists, while Draper had four steals.
Ursinus had a 35-34 edge on the glass, with Draper picking up six. Gyokchyan had seven rebounds for F&M.
The Bears head to Swarthmore on Saturday afternoon.