RUSHVILLE
Holiday tournaments like the one Franklin’s boys basketball team participated in Wednesday tend to be similar creatures.
Multiple teams. Outstanding competition. Unfamiliar surroundings.
And an abundance of down time.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryGrizzly Cubs players spent the late-afternoon hours relaxing inside the Rushville High School weightroom after downing Shenandoah 59-48 in a semifinal of the annual Lion Classic.
That was their prize for advancing to the 7:30 o’clock championship game.
“This tournament is fun because there are a lot of local teams,” said senior forward Hunter Gross. “I like the day trips. You get to bond a little bit, especially with two games spread out.
“I wish we would play the games a little closer in time, but the down time is nice. We usually just kind of chill out, eat some food. Sometimes nap and rest up for the next game.”
Franklin, which finished a disappointing 0-2 in the same 2,600-seat octagon a year ago, lost to Mid-State Conference rival Mooresville 61-50 in Wednesday evening’s finale.
Poor shooting — 20 of 57 (.351), including a blustery 6 of 29 from on 3-pointers — haunted the Grizzly Cubs (5-3), whose next game, ironically, is Jan. 7 at Mooresville.
Led by 6-foot-4 junior forward Brayton Strohmeyer’s 22 points and 11 rebounds, both game-bests, the Pioneers sizzled from the floor, making 23 of 36 field-goal attempts (.639).
For sake of comparison, the Pioneers were 11 of 19 from the free-throw line (.579).
Grizzly Cubs coach Brad Dickey wasn’t happy afterward.
Asked if playing the second semifinal made for tired legs against Mooresville, he said, “We are tired walking in. We have tired attitudes, and we don’t take care of things we ought to take care of.
“That’s our inexperience and our youth. Our lack of mass and size. It’s a hard spot. I’ve got to figure out how to help them. I did a poor job as a coach today. We’ll take the Shenandoah win as a good experience and Mooresville as not so good.”
There were seven ties and seven lead changes through the third stanza, with Mooresville holding a slim 41-37 advantage.
Sophomore Reece Thompson’s baseline trey 16 seconds into the fourth trimmed the lead to one, but the Pioneers rattled off a 12-0 scoring run to essentially end the suspense.
Southpaw Cory Richards, another soph, led the Cubs with 15 points. Thompson and Gross both scored 11 with Gross also adding 10 boards.
Dickey’s squad got off to a shaky start in the semifinal with Shenandoah bolting to a 6-0 lead.
The Raiders held a 25-20 advantage late in the second quarter when Franklin turned the momentum its way with eight consecutive points the final 1:22 before halftime.
Thompson got thing rolling with a 3-pointer. Backup guard Blaine Wentzel splashed a triple of his own to give the Grizzly Cubs the lead for good at 26-25, with Wentzel closing the first-half scoring with a steal and lay-up.
Franklin began the third period with two treys from Richards to stretch the lead to nine, but Shenandoah’s 8-0 run again made things interesting.
Thompson’s baseline 3-pointer with 49.2 seconds left in the third and two Jacob Rockey free throws made it a 39-35 lead with one quarter remaining. Freshman forward Drew Byerly tallied 11 of his game-high 17 points over the final eight minutes as Franklin pulled away.
Defensively, the Grizzly Cubs forced the Raiders into 17 turnovers — including eight in the second quarter — and limited Shenandoah to only one made 3-pointer.
“We got beat on some back cuts early on, and we seemed to solve that problem a little bit,” said Dickey, who landed two more players in double-figures with Thompson scoring 13 points and Richards 10.
“The kids improved in that regard. It’s something we’re normally good at. We had a slow start, but a good finish.”
Earlier in the afternoon, Franklin won the junior varsity tournament.
The Cubs handily defeated Shenandoah in a semifinal in the auxiliary gymnasium. They then played the championship against Mooresville in the main gym, defeating the Pioneers, 42-36.
