THE FACTS
Franklin & Marshall (10-6, 4-5 CC) 61, McDaniel (5-11, 1-8 CC) 52
What: Centennial Conference (CC) men's basketball game
When: Wednesday, Jan. 16
Where: Westminster, Md.

THE SKINNY STORY
Franklin & Marshall closed the game on a 10-2 run to secure a 61-52 victory over McDaniel.

THE LEADERS
• DJ Harper (Bowie, Md./Riverdale Baptist) led the Green Terror with 19 points.
• Caleb Johnson (Triangle, Va./Gar-Field) added 11 points.

FOR THE FOES
• Justin Kupa led the Diplomats with 26 points.
• J.C. McGrath chipped in 12 points.

THE REST OF THE STORY
• After a back-and-forth first six minutes that featured two ties and four lead changes, Justin Kupa scored five straight points to give the visitors a 15-10 lead with 12:59 showing. Trailing 18-13, McDaniel scored nine straight points over a 4-minute, 7-second span to take a 22-18 lead on DJ Harper 3-pointer with 6:05 showing. Franklin & Marshall, however, countered with seven straight points to take a 25-22 lead before a Harper free throw made it a 25-23 game at the break.
• After a Kupa 3-pointer to open the second half, Isaac Ray (Fredericksburg, Pa./Northern Lebanon) scored five straight points to tie the game and Caleb Johnson hit a layup off a Harper steal-and-pass for a 30-28 lead with 17:46 on the clock. After another four ties and four lead changes over the next seven minutes, Les Thomas drained a triple with 11:09 remaining to tie the game at 39-all and spark a 9-0 Diplomat run.
• Trailing 51-43, Harper hit a layup and converted the ensuing free throw then had a steal-and-slam to cut the margin to three. A Tony Tavares (Chesapeake Beach, Md./Huntingtown) trimmed the deficit to one with 3:29 to play. Franklin & Marshall, however, tallied the next six points to push the lead back out to seven with 1:57 showing. Mike Wallace (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) hit a layup with 1:46 to play to make it a five-point game but that's as close as McDaniel could get.

THE INSIDE STORY
• The 19 points for Harper was a career best. He had scored 17 twice before.
• Kaelen Kanealey (Rochester, N.Y./Irondequoit) recorded six blocked shots – the most by a Green Terror player since 2008.

NEXT UP
McDaniel returns to action at home against Dickinson on Saturday. Game time is 3 p.m.