Men's basketball Remains Undefeated

“Defense is how we create our offense,” forward Jon Salandra ’14 said, a statement backed up by F&M’s dominating 63-46 victory Saturday over rival McDaniel. 

The victory continues F&M’s string of dominating performances, as the men’s basketball team has notched double-digit victories in its last three games. The win marks F&M’s seventh win in a row, making the Diplomats the only team in the Centennial Conference to remain undefeated both in conference play and overall. 

As usual, the game started off slow, but defensive intensity pervaded every aspect of the contest, resulting in a 0-0 stalemate for the first four minutes. However, F&M proceeded to take an 11-2 advantage a little over seven minutes into the game. 

The Green Terror made a valiant surge to equalize the game at 11-11 with eight minutes left in the half, but F&M responded as the defense produced 19 rebounds and three blocks to finish the half off with a 29-17 lead. The first-half effort was spearheaded by Brandon Beckford’s ’13 ten points. 

F&M turned its defense into offense in the second half, with four quick points coming out of halftime to begin an 11-4 run. All-American point guard Georgio Milligan ’12 kept the offensive attack going, scoring 12 of his 18 points during the second half. He led not only the earlier run but another 9-4 run with 8:24 left in the game to put F&M up by 20 points, the team’s largest lead of the game. 

Salandra also took charge in the second half as he continued to make his defensive presence and offensive prowess known. Early in the second half he began by getting back-to-back blocks to accompany his five boards and going a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line to add to his game total twelve points. 

Milligan and Salandra led the charge, along with help from Beckford, Matt Porter ’14, and Hayk Gyokchyan ’13 who scored eleven, seven, and six points respectively. Although McDaniel began to make a run due to a few Diplomat mistakes, in the end the Green Terror could not get over the large hump that was placed in front of them by the Diplomats. 

F&M filled the stat sheet, but the statistics do not adequately express the true impact the defense had on the game. The defensive pressure produced by F&M was the determining factor in the outcome of the contest. McDaniel, a team that frequents the three-point line, was restricted to only five made three-pointers and shot only 34 percent from the field. 

Even from the free throw line, which by the end of the game was the only way the Green Terror could score, McDaniel shot only 50% due to the exhaustion produced by the Diplomat defense. Moreover, F&M’s big men snagged their blocks at very timely moments that allowed for subsequent runs to follow, and their presence around the basket forced the opposition to change their shots to difficult attempts that would have been easy otherwise. 

Along with the blocks, F&M grabbed 24 defensive rebounds, equaling the number of McDaniel’s total rebounds for the game, and added seven more offensive rebounds, allowing for F&M to convert on their second chance opportunities. Defense also came from the guard positions, as F&M swiped six steals.

With each passing game, the Diplomats seem to improve and grow stronger as a group. Even when the offense is lacking, the defense is always there, according to Salandra. 

“As we play more games and as we practice we’re just going to get better and better, so I’m excited,” Salandra said.

 As F&M continues to dominate all that oppose them, we all anxiously watch in awe and excitement waiting to see what will happen next. The Diplomats’ next game is Wednesday at Gettysburg at 8 p.m.