MEDFORD, Mass.— Down 19 at the half, the Skidmore College men's basketball team stormed back to beat #21 Franklin  &  Marshall 83-72 to advance to the NCAA Division III second round on Saturday at 7 p.m. against host Tufts or Southern Vermont.
 
Down 44-25 at the half, The Thoroughbreds (19-8) outscored the Diplomats (22-6) 58-28 in the second half to advance to the NCAA second round for the second straight year.
 
There were plenty of heroes for Skidmore, who got 19 points each from Edvinas Rupkus and Erik Sanders. Marcus Jackson dominated play inside with 10 points and 12 rebounds and Royce Paris added 15 big points off the bench. Rupkus, Sanders and Paris all scored 13 points in the second half comeback.
 
Franklin and Marshall got 31 from Brandon Federici, 20 in the first half. Hunter Eggers scored 14 and Matthew Tate added 13.
 
Skidmore's bench outscored the Diplomats 31-5.
 
The Thoroughbreds struggled in the first half, shooting just 6-24 (25%) from the floor, while F&M scored 18 points off nine Skidmore turnovers.
 
It took a pair of last second free throws by Jack Byrne kept the F&M lead to less than 20 at the break, 44-25.

The second half was a different story, as Skidmore used the first 10 minutes to diminish the Diplomat lead.  Just over three minutes into the second half Jack Morrow made one from downtown that started the Thoroughbred comeback.  Paris turned in a layup sandwiched by two free throws, and Isaac Carp and Morrow made consecutive threes to cut the lead to six.  Federici made two free throws for the Diplomats to stop the scoring streak, but a layup followed by a free throw for the three point play by Sanders, a three by Carp and two made free throws by Sanders tied the game at 53 with 10:22 left on the clock. 

The game would be tied two more times before Skidmore took the lead and would lead by as many as five thanks to a Rupkus three with 6:39 left on the clock.  But Federici kept his team in the game, making a jumper that gave the Diplomats the one point advantage with 4:06 left in the second half. 

Rupkus made one from the charity stripe to tie it, and another one to give Skidmore the advantage with 2:44 remaining in the game.  But Cedric Moune responded with a free throw of his own for the Diplomats to tie the game for the sixth time at 70 with 2:30 remaining. 

This time when Skidmore took the lead they would keep it, as Paris made consecutive layups and added five free throws in the last minute of play to help the Thoroughbreds pull off the 83-72 win. 

COACH BURKE:
Heck of an effort by our guys in the second half. I am not sure how many people believed we could pull that off but I felt like our locker room was convinced the minute we went back on the floor. I keep saying this after every game but boy is this crew resilient.

F&M is a great program with a Hall of Fame Coach and I have so much respect for them. I think when you test yourself like we do in the non-conference every year your program is ready for tough situations. Tonight was one of the situations and our guys responded in big time fashion.

We will enjoy this tonight but then wake up and get ready for our second round game. Everybody is tough at this point so either Southern Vermont or Tufts will be  a great test but our group believes they can beat anybody and I agree with them.