The Rotary Tip-Off Tournament championship game was played at a fever pitch. But in the end, it was Franklin & Marshall that turned up the heat - and perhaps forged something within itself in the process.

The Dips, who trailed by 14 points early in the game and 10 at halftime, outscored Gwynedd-Mercy 48-27 after the break - 20-6 over the game's final seven minutes - to win 81-70.

Tournament MVP Georgio Milligan, F&M's sophomore point guard, scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half as the Dips (2-0) defended their title in this event and won it for the 22nd time in 30.

"We just felt like they were bullying us in the first half," Milligan said.

"They wanted it more than us. We decided to turn it up as a team."

The game matched two teams that played in the NCAA Division III Tournament a year ago. Both lost to the same team, in fact - Richard Stockton - G-M in the second round, F&M in the semifinals.

The Dips pulled this one out with their second-half work at both ends, attacking the gaps in the Griffins' matchup zone more effectively on offense and extending their own 3-2 zone further out on the court to challenge G-M's shooters, especially guard Matt Johnson (20 points) and guard-forward Jon Hogga (19).

It was that defense, F&M coach Glenn Robinson said, that "gave us some energy and some easy shots on the other end."

And in time, a victory.

"It starts to show what you're made of, when you have to dig down,"

Robinson said. "Sometimes you dig down and there's nothing there. These guys always seem to find something when they dig down."

A basket by junior forward Mike Baker with 5:48 gave the Dips the lead for good at 65-64. But they were still clinging to a one-point lead, at 69-68, when freshman guard Brandon Beckford drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing with 2:09 to play, triggering a game-ending 12-2 flurry.

Beckford scored 15 points off the bench, just as he had in his first college game, a 102-40 rout of New York City Tech Friday. And while he said that the play is a little more physical at this level, he also said this: "I have a lot of confidence right now."

That comes as no surprise to Milligan, who played with Beckford at Don Bosco Prep, in New Jersey, and has in fact known him since they were in grade school.

"He always plays like that," Milligan said. "We call him 'Silky Smooth.' "

The early stages of the game were anything but, where F&M was concerned.

G-M (1-2) was getting easy post-ups and penetration, and quickly moved to early leads of 26-12 and 28-14. The Dips drew no closer than eight the rest of the half, and were in a 43-33 hole at the break.

At halftime, Beckford said, senior guard Sal Salvati "kind of motivated everyone, telling us we were playing soft, they were bringing it to us and we had to come out and bring it to them."

It was an uphill fight. The Dips crept within three five minutes into the half on Steve Tolliver's three-point play, only to see the Griffins push their lead back out to seven.

F&M drew even, at 61-61, when Milligan blocked a 3-point attempt by Doug Berzins at the top of the key and took a pass from James McNally for a fast-break layup with 7:11 to go, but Johnson immediately answered with a triple.

Then Beckford claimed an offensive rebound, drew a foul and made two at the line to start an 8-0 spree, putting the Dips ahead to stay.

Notes: Anthony Brooks scored 15 for F&M, and James McNally, who made the all-tournament team, added 13 points and 10 rebounds. ... St. Lawrence beat New York City Tech in the consolation game, 71-41. ... Joining Milligan and McNally on the all-tournament team were Hogga, St. Lawrence's Josh Sharlow and City Tech's Gabriel Davis.