Through three games, Franklin & Marshall's men's basketball team has had three different players stand out.

In the opener, sophomore forward James McNally provided the spark needed in a 73-52 win over Penn State-Harrisburg. Saturday, junior guard Clay Scovill, freshman guard Georgio Milligan and McNally each scored 17 points in a 79-55 defeat of Mary Washington.

Tuesday night, it was Mike Baker's turn. The sophomore forward had 14 first-half points to power F&M to a 72-68 win over Lebanon Valley at Mayser Center.

For the second time in three games, the Diplomats scored first and never trailed. After leading wire-to-wire against Penn State-Harrisburg, F&M quickly jumped out in front again Tuesday but couldn't build a big enough lead to bury the Dutchmen. So Lebanon Valley had its chances in the final minutes of the game.

With 8:50 to go in the second half, Dutchmen senior guard and Hempfield alum Kyle Enoch knocked down a pair of free throws to make it a 56-55 game. As quickly as Lebanon Valley had cut into the lead, McNally helped the Diplomats build it back up, hitting two foul shots of his own and a layup off a Dutchman turnover to make it a five-point game, 60-55.

Enoch made it a two-point game again moments later when he hit all three free throws after Milligan fouled him on a 3-point shot. It was back and forth the rest of the way and Lebanon Valley pulled within a bucket twice more.

With just 17 seconds left, the Dutchmen had it down to a one-possession game but Anthony Brooks stepped in front of a Dan Hodge inbounds pass to steal the game away for F&M. The pass was intended for Enoch, who finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-for-22 shooting.

"We just didn't match up well with them," F&M head coach Glenn Robinson said. "There was always somebody guarding somebody smaller and quicker and that created problems."

Robinson moved Brooks to guard Enoch in the second half and it helped slow Enoch down. Enoch was 3-for-11 from the field in the second half, including 1-for-5 from beyond the arc.

"He moves around so much and with people throwing picks for him, it's hard to get on him," Baker said.

"Anthony's bigger, and he did a great job on Penn State's (Kenton) Alston (Friday night)," Robinson said. "We figured (Brooks) was our best bet to keep Kyle from continuing to hurt us."

And while Brooks stymied Enoch, Baker and McNally were battling on the offensive end, trying to build the Diplomat lead.

"(Lebanon Valley) had trouble because they had to match up our two big men," Robinson said.

Baker and McNally delivered much of the offense for the Diplomats, scoring 16 and 19 points, respectively.

Baker provided the early offense, hitting on his first three shots. His jumper from the top of the paint gave the Diplomats an early 7-2 lead.

"I just came more relaxed (tonight)," Baker said. "First game, I wasn't playing my best and the first half of the second game, I wasn't my best either. Then the second half of the second game, I was more relaxed and more confident in what I was doing. Today, I saw they weren't playing me all that well and I could get easy jumpers off, so I took that to my advantage."

Baker, who was a combined 6-for-15 for 12 points in the first two games, took advantage in a big way Tuesday, going 8-for-15 from the field.

E-mail: wwelliver@lnpnews.com