LANCASTER, Pa.-In a showdown of the two remaining teams with unblemished Centennial Conference records this season, Swarthmore College Men's Basketball took the road loss at No. 17 Franklin & Marshall College on Saturday by a three-point margin.

Swarthmore dipped to 10-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play after Saturday's unfavorable 57-54 result. The Franklin & Marshall Diplomats improved to 10-2 (5-0 Centennial).

The Garnet led by one point with 42 seconds to play after Matt Brennan earned a trip to the line and knocked down both free throws. On the other end of the court, F&M's Hunter Eggers, who had a game-high 22 points, scored a jump shot from the elbow to put the Diplomats back in the lead 55-54 with 31 seconds to go. The Garnet called their final timeout. After missing a jump shot that deflected off a Diplomat and out of play, the Garnet inbounded beneath their own basket with under four seconds to play. The Garnet heaved up a long shot for the lead, but were called for a shot-clock violation.

With 1.7 seconds put back on the game clock, Swarthmore fouled Eggars intentionally before the in-bounds pass in hopes of getting the ball back for a last-second shot. Eggars hit both free throws and Swarthmore had to take a desperation shot for the tie, but couldn't complete the Hail Mary.

Swarthmore junior Sam Lebryk scored a team-high 16 points for the Garnet on 5-of-7 (71.4 percent) shooting from the floor. Chris Bourne posted his fourth double-double of the season, scoring 12 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.

Statistically, the Garnet and Diplomats were nearly equal in field goal shooting. The Garnet connected on 15-of-44 attempts (34.1 percent), and the Diplomats went 18-for-53 (34.0 percent). The Garnet out-rebounded the Diplomats 36-30, but committed more turnovers than the home team, turning the ball over 16 times to F&M's 10 giveaways.

Swarthmore slipped into an 11-point deficit with three minutes left in the first, but strung together a 7-0 run in the final two minutes to pull within four by halftime. Lebryk capped off the run with a 3-pointer with four seconds left.

Four minutes into the second half, Swarthmore tied the game with a trio of free throws. F&M, however regained the lead and took a five-point advantage with 7:39 to go. With 1:47 to play, Lebryk knocked down a 3-pointer to give Swarthmore a 52-50 lead. F&M's Eggars, who scored 13 of the Diplomats' final 16 points, scored a fastbreak layup to give F&M a one-point advantage and set the stage for the wild final minute.

A full house of more than 1,200 fans were in attendance for Saturday's game as Diplomats' head coach Glenn Robinsonn became the only Division III head coach with 900 victories.

Swarthmore is back on the road Tuesday at Johns Hopkins University.