F&M wins in blowout

James McNally said the whole thing went so well, for F&M Saturday night, that he might just sit out the next game, too.

No, no, no. Only a joke.

Better, perhaps, not to delve too deeply into the Diplomats' blowout of McDaniel at the Mayser Center Saturday.

The Green Terrors came in having won four straight, a streak that began with a 61-53 win over F&M Jan. 8. The Diplomats were without McNally, who's only the program's leading scorer, currently and all-time, due to a concussion.

McNally's replacement, Hayk Gyokchyan, and the Dips' other starting big, Mike Baker, got into almost immediate foul trouble.

Baker, who averaged 11 points and eight boards, never got going and scored only two.

So, naturally: F&M 71, McDaniel 40.

What the ... .

"We played very badly down there," McNally said. "They played a packed-in zone, and we just didn't make shots."

This time, coach Glenn Robinson said, "We went to plan B. Then we went to plan C."

C involved Robinson going far deeper into his bench than usual, finding big minutes for guys like bigs Nick Mraz, Dave Balderston and Jon Salandra.

It also involved a little more patience, and a little more precision, against the zone. Plus defense — more full-court man-to-man than Robinson usually favors — that created offense by forcing 24 turnovers.

Want a stat? McDaniel assist-to-turnover ratio: three-to-24. That's not gonna get it done.

"No question, our defense created some easy baskets this time," Robinson said. "We did a lot of things better."

Sophomore swingman Brandon Beckford, normally something of a defensive specialist, erased a lot of potential negatives with a career-high 26 points, 16 above his average, on 9-of-18 shooting. He made four of F&M's seven three-pointers.

McDaniel (9-8, 6-4 Centennial Conference) was still within five early in the second half when Beckford nailed a three that started the decisive run.

A moment later he buried another three, and then finished a break with a layup plus-one from a Georgio Milligan feed, and it was 47-27.

McDaniel coach Kevin Curley was already out of time-outs, with 12 minutes left, but the suspense was about gone, too.

F&M (13-4, 8-2) has lost a couple of games it probably thought, going into the year, it wouldn't.

But the Dips are now alone in first place in the Centennial, with five of their remaining eight games at home. The setup for a deep postseason is still right there.

McNally got drilled by an elbow during Wednesday's overtime win at Dickinson. He finished the game, but said Saturday that "once the adrenaline wore off, my head hurt."

It's a mild concussion, he said. He had been symptom-free all day Saturday. If he passes an impact test today, he should be ready to roll Wednesday at Johns Hopkins.

There's another bit of hard news. Matt Porter, a 6-3 freshman guard from New Jersey, joined the team for the spring semester, and debuted at Dickinson.

Porter had been recruited by F&M out of high school and accepted into school, but opted to attend a prep school in Massachusetts in the fall.

Porter hasn't done much yet, zero points in 16 college minutes, but he looks like a talent.

"He's five months behind, and he's trying to make it up in two days," Robinson said.

"He's a slasher, really quick ... all he needs is a crack, and here's there, and, wham."

Mike Gross is assistant sports editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at mgross@lnpnews.com.