No telling how far Clay Scovill had to go to make the pivotal play for Franklin & Marshall Saturday night. Maybe 40 feet. Maybe more.

But the play he made — a game-winning tip-in with 0.7 of a second left — certainly showed how far the Dips have come since last year.

Scovill's basket lifted F&M to an 81-79 victory over never-say-die Susquehanna in the championship game of the Sponaugle Tournament. The Dips ran their record to 9-0, successfully defended their title in this event and captured it for the 22nd time overall.

Perhaps more significantly, it showed how much difference a year has made for this team. How the holdovers are year wiser and a year tougher, and how much the newcomers have added.

"We're so much more comfortable with each other," said Scovill, a junior guard/forward from Manheim Township. "When someone makes a run on us, we say, 'OK, now it's time to make our run' – where last year we would have just crawled into a hole."

No fewer than six of the Dips' losses were by five points or fewer in 2007-08, when they finished 12-13. They are 3-0 in such games so far this year, and both of the Sponaugle victories fell into that category — a 78-74 victory over The College of New Jersey in Friday's first round, and Friday's barn-burner.

The Dips held a 39-28 halftime lead before the Crusaders (7-4) stormed back, claiming a 53-50 advantage midway through the second half. But far from crawling in a hole the Dips responded with a 12-0 run, to which tournament MVP Mike Baker, a sophomore forward, contributed five of his 11 points. (He also finished with 10 rebounds.)

F&M then staved off one Susquehanna challenge after another after that, and held a 79-74 lead when James McNally nailed a pair of free throws with 30.7 seconds to play.

But Bryan Majors nailed a 3-pointer. Matt McDevitt then stole the inbounds pass, and the wonderfully named Spenser Spencer coaxed in a jumper with seven seconds remaining to tie it.

The Dips again inbounded, this time to freshman point guard Georgio Milligan. Coach Glenn Robinson was about to call timeout, but decided otherwise when he saw Milligan pitch the ball to McNally, who was running ahead of the field. McNally's layup spilled off the rim, but here came Scovill, seemingly out of nowhere.

"I was probably at halfcourt," said Scovill, who finished with 16 points.

"I saw how fast James was running, and thought it might come off long, and there might be a tip. Luckily it came right to me. Everyone gave up on the play on their team, so I got pretty much a free shot."

"A great hustle play," Robinson said.

Scovill said he had made some game-winners in AAU play, but never in high school or anything like that.

"It's the best feeling," he said, "because the whole game was nip and tuck, and you think it's going to overtime. It's nice to get a win before it goes those extra five minutes."

The Dips built their halftime lead on the strength of their defense — and not their customary man-to-man, either. After Susquehanna made five of its first nine from the field, F&M jumped into a 3-2 zone, which it had used to good effect in the second half of Friday's victory.

Susquehanna missed 15 of its last 21 from the field in the half, and fell into that 11-point hole.

It was, Crusaders coach Frank Marcinek said, the most he's ever seen the Dips play zone.

"After one possession, it was the most I've seen them play zone," he said.

"We had some schemes [to use against it], and we added a scheme at halftime."

And did so in unorthodox fashion.

"We had the kids up in their spots," he said, "passing a towel [in the locker room]."

It worked, because Susquehanna, which got 18 points from center Rob Cosgrove, and 15 points and 12 boards from forward Joel Patch, stormed back.

"I really think this group believes in themselves," Marcinek said. "They don't know why, but they do. ... My hat's off to their effort. Our effort was great. [The Dips'] was a little better."

Notes: Steve Tolliver, who led F&M with 17 points, joined Baker on the all-tournament team. Patch also made it, as did TCNJ's Eric Hayes and Edgewood's Jon Ciche. ... In all, six Dips cracked double figures. Besiders Tolliver, Scovill and Baker, Milligan scored 15 points and McNally and Dan Selig 10 apiece. ... Edgewood beat TCNJ in the consolation game, 85-76.