If Franklin & Marshall's undefeated men's basketball team thought it was going to have an easy time Friday night against a .500 squad, Technical College of New Jersey thought differently.

Something along the lines of "Hey, fugeddaboutit."

Overcoming the rust that had accumulated during a 22-day holiday break and the absence of starting guard Anthony Brooks (appendix operation), the Diplomats picked up 16 points from guard Giorgio Milligan and 13 apiece from forwards Mike Baker and James McNally to earn a 78-74 win on the opening night of the 42nd Annual S. Woodrow Sponaugle Classic at Mayser Center.

"It was a war out there," F&M coach Glenn Robinson said. "We probably got more than we bargained for. They took us to the nth degree."

F&M (8-0) looks to win its second straight Sponaugle title and 22nd overall when it faces Susquehanna (7-3) tonight at 8 in the championship game. The Crusaders beat Edgewood, 75-69, in Friday's other semifinal.

TCNJ (4-5) and Edgewood (3-7) meet in the 6 p.m. consolation.

Guard Jay Frank led all scorers with 21 points, and forward Aaron Syvertsen and reserve Steven Siracusa added 13 each to pace a TCNJ offense whose quickness proved to be a problem for F&M's man-to-man defense.

"We were changing defenses and none of them were working particularly well," said Robinson, whose team allowed TCNJ to hit 52 percent of its field goals in the first half. "They kept driving at us; they wouldn't let up."

Desperate to find a solution, the Dips switched to a zone at the start of the second half and stayed in it for much of the final 20 minutes. It was their longest stretch of playing zone this season.

"We went to a zone with 'man' principles so we could help each other out more," Milligan said.

"That was a good call by coach," Baker said. "It slowed them down."

On offense, F&M relied on its traditional low-post game. In past years that meant feeding guys named Detz, Mehaffey and Lynch. These days, it's Baker and McNally.

Milligan's assist to McNally led to a crucial 3-point play and four-point lead with 37 seconds left. Held to one field-goal attempt in the first half, McNally shot 4-for-5 from the floor in the second and 5-for-7 from the free throw line.

"James had a rough first half," Baker said. "But we were able to get him the ball in the second half."

F&M rallied from a game-high seven-point deficit late in the first half to claim a 37-35 lead at the break. The Dips led by as much as seven in the second half following a McNally field goal with 13:21 left.

A pair of free throws by Frank brought the Lions to within one at 73-72 with 52 seconds remaining. McNally's layup following a feed from Milligan turned into the aforementioned 3-point play that all but sealed the win.

"They know how to finish games," Lions coach Kelly Williams said. "We're still learning how to win.

"That team," he said with a nod toward F&M, "could be very special at the end of the year."

Notes: Robinson said Brooks' return is "imminent" and that he might play tonight. … F&M, which has shot 37-for-54 (.685) from the free throw line in the final five minutes of games this season, hit 7-of-11 (.636) in the final minutes Friday.

E-mail: egruver@lnpnews.com