COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College men's basketball team trimmed an 18-point second-half deficit down to three but was unable to get over the hump as No. 22 Franklin & Marshall pulled away down the stretch for a 74-61 Centennial Conference victory. With the result, the visiting Diplomats clinched the top seed and home-court advantage in next week's conference tournament for the sixth time in eight years.

Terrel Phelps scored a game-high 17 points to lead five players in double figures for Franklin & Marshall (19-4, 14-2), which has won 15 of its last 16 in the series.

Sophomore forward Remi Janicot racked up 17 points and 14 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season for Ursinus (10-12, 6-9), which was eliminated from playoff contention with the loss. After trailing by double digits for much of the contest, the Bears nearly kept their hopes alive with a spirited rally before turnovers and missed free throws doomed their attempt at a remarkable comeback.

Facing a 58-40 gulf with 10:35 remaining, Ursinus embarked on a 17-2 run over the next six minutes, putting a major scare into the nationally ranked Diplomats. Freshman guard Eric Williams kick-started the run with a 3-pointer, and added another after a bucket by senior guard Malik Draper to slice the margin to ten. Senior guard Mark Wonderling took over from there, scoring on a breakaway after a steal to cut it to single digits, and another swipe on the next possession led to a second-chance basket by Draper.

Draper's free throw made it 60-57 with 4:45 to play, but F&M weathered the storm with back-to-back buckets from Matthew Tate and Kevin Beins to restore a seven-point margin. After a foul shot by Eric Williams, Cedric Moune's three-point play with 2:09 to play sealed the deal.

Eric Williams collected 12 points and Draper added ten for the Bears, who held F&M to 9-of-28 shooting (32.1 percent) and forced ten turnovers in the second half. Despite the strong second stanza, Ursinus was undone by 21 turnovers and an 11-of-25 performance (44.0 percent) at the foul line. Sophomore guard Brian Rafferty had six points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

Beins scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting for F&M, Moune chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds, and Tate and Brandon Federici finished with ten apiece. The Diplomats recorded a 23-12 advantage in points off miscues and got 35 points from their bench.

Franklin & Marshall gradually built a sizeable advantage with deadly long-range shooting. Tate and Terrel Phelps each hit a pair in the first five minutes and change, and Federici banged one home during a 17-6 spurt that helped the Diplomats open up a 42-24 lead at the 2:23 mark of the period. Beins capped the surge with baskets on three consecutive possessions for F&M, which had six players score at least six points in a balanced first half.

The Diplomats went 6 of 14 (42.9 percent) from beyond the 3-point line in the stanza, half of those makes coming out of the hands of Terrel Phelps. F&M had 11 assists to just two turnovers in the opening period, a stark contrast to Ursinus' 11-turnover, three-assist effort; the Diplomats converted the Bears' miscues into 15 points, helping to widen the spread.

Janicot did his best to keep Ursinus within shouting distance, piling up ten points and six rebounds in the first 20 minutes alone.

Ursinus has less than 24 hours to recover before a Centennial Conference contest at Haverford on Wednesday, February 17.