Prior’s 23 leads McDaniel to best start in program history, first win at Franklin & Marshall since 1984
WESTMINSTER, Md. – Chris Prior (Westminster, Md./Westminster) registered a career-high 23 points to lead McDaniel to a 75-62 victory at Franklin & Marshall in Centennial Conference (CC) men’s basketball action on Saturday.
With the victory, the Green Terror (6-0, 3-0 CC) is off to its best start in program history, bettering the 5-0 start by the 1962-63 squad. It was also the team’s first win in Lancaster since a 75-73 victory on Dec. 1, 1984 and second straight over the Diplomats (3-5, 1-3 CC) after snapping an 18-game losing streak last season.
Clay Scovill led Franklin & Marshall with 18 points while Chris Sullivan chipped in 10 off the bench.
After Prior and Brett Foelber (Sykesville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons) staked McDaniel to an early 4-0 lead, a James McNally jumper and Sullivan 3-pointer put the Diplomats on top 5-4 with 17:13 to play in the first half.
The lead would last 27 seconds before a T.J. Odunlami (Columbia, Md./Athlolton) layup gave the Green Terror the lead for good at 6-5.
Back-to-back treys from Kevin Henry (Potomac, Md./Bullis School) and Ryan Finch (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon) capped a 9-0 run to stretch the lead to 13-5 with 14:51 to play in the half.
Sullivan momentarily snapped the spurt with his triple before another 6-1 burst stretched the lead to 19-9 nearly six minutes later.
A Miguel Jones (Baltimore, Md./North County) 3-pointer pushed the lead to its largest of the first half at 30-19 with 2:34 showing.
Holding a 35-23 lead at the break, Prior converted a traditional three-point play to push the lead to 15 with 38 seconds elapsed in the second half.
Taking over the scoring himself, Prior scored the first 15 McDaniel points of the half to sustain the double-digit lead with 10:20 remaining.
A Mike Baker layup with 8:15 to play to cut the Diplomat deficit to 53-46 but a Jones layup and two free throws apiece from Prior and Foelber stretched the lead back out to 11 three minutes later.
With those four free throws, the Green Terror started a stretch where it hit 11 of its 13 free-throw attempts over a 3-minute, 57-second span for its only points.
Trailing 66-56, Mitch Rhyner hit a 3-pointer with 1:43 to play but Finch converted a backdoor layup and hit a basket on the break to put the game out of reach with 54 seconds left.
McDaniel, who converted 27 of 35 attempts at the charity stripe, hit five of its six attempts in the final 43 to secure the win.
Odunlami added 12 points while Jones and Foelber contributed 11 and 10, respectively.
McDaniel returns to action at Mary Washington on Dec. 18. Game time is 5 p.m.
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