LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall jumped out to an 8-2 lead and never trailed to top McDaniel 68-55 in the Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball opener for both teams on Saturday.

Nic Martin (Hagerstown, Md./St. Maria Gorretti) led the Green Terror (2-1, 0-1 CC) with 11 points while Tim Stewart (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) added his first double-double in a McDaniel uniform, grabbing a career-best 11 rebounds to go with 11 points.

Brandon Federici paced the Diplomats (4-0, 1-0 CC) with 24 points. Cedric Moune added 13 points and six rebounds while Jared Wright added 10 points and five assists.

After Moune and Wes Brooks (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) traded buckets in the game's first 38 seconds, Matthew Tate hit a jumper a minute later to give the hosts the lead for good.

Four free throws from Federici extended the lead to 8-2 before Martin hit a layup to snap a nearly four-minute scoreless drought.

A Federici three-point play ended the lead to seven with 15:17 showing.

Federici made it a 15-6 game before Martin canned a triple to spark a 9-2 burst that trimmed the deficit to 17-15 with 8:56 showing.

Cameron Royster (Derwood, Md./Magruder) contributed five points during the run.

Franklin & Marshall, however, countered with an 8-0 run of its own to push the lead to double digits with 5:55 on the clock.

A Moune layup gave the Diplomats their largest lead of the first half at 33-19 en route to a 34-21 advantage at the break.

A Morgan Lee layup and Federici 3-pointer stretched the lead to 18 before 90 seconds had elapsed in the second half.

Two Phillip Perry (Crownsville, Md./Annapolis Area Christian) free throws closed the deficit to 45-31 with 12:05 to play but Franklin & Marshall reeled off nine of the game's next 13 points to open up a 54-34 advantage with 9:20 to play.

Royster finished with nine points while Perry had eight.

The Green Terror opens the home schedule against Washington (Md.) on Tuesday. Game time is 8 p.m.

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