Fans in the market for aesthetically pleasing basketball haven’t found much of it at the Class 4A Center Grove Sectional this week.
The bracket’s two favorites, Franklin and the host Trojans, don’t really care. They’re still alive.
In the rubber match between two teams that split a pair of close games in January, Franklin used 24 points from Cory Richards and clutch baskets from Drew Byerly and Cody Mahler in the closing minutes to pull out a 61-53 victory against county rival Whiteland.
The Grizzly Cubs (19-7) will play in tonight’s championship game against Center Grove, which endured a similarly difficult night and came away with an 48-42 win over Franklin Central.
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"At this point, you’ve got to win by one," Trojans coach Zach Hahn said.
Carter Crowe’s 3-pointer with 2:29 in the game brought Whiteland to within one at 51-50. But Byerly and Mahler put in big buckets on Franklin’s next two trips down the floor, with Byerly tacking on a free throw, and the Grizzly Cubs were able to hang on from there.
"We seemed just barely fresher, maybe, in the second half of the game," Franklin coach Brad Dickey said. "We’re just happy to advance."
The Warriors (9-14) made the first big run of the night in the second quarter, scoring 11 unanswered points to take a 22-14 lead with 4:35 left in the half. The Grizzly Cubs punched back after the break, using a 13-0 third-quarter run to pull ahead, 38-32.
Richards, who scored his 1,000th career point on the night, did most of his damage near the basket.
"I felt like I could take my man all night," Richards said, "so I just kept staying confident and kept establishing myself in the paint."
Byerly and Reece Thomson each added 13 points for Franklin (19-7). Whiteland was led by Crowe’s 17 points and 13 from Isaiah Davis.
In the opener, the underdog Flashes (3-20) held their own early and led 17-14 when Eric Kolp opened the second quarter with a bucket. But the Trojans pulled ahead for good a little more than two minutes later when Spencer Piercefield hit a 3, then came up with a steal and fed Trayce Jackson-Davis for a dunk. That sequence sparked an 18-4 surge over the final 7:30 of the half that put Center Grove seemingly in control at 32-21.
Franklin Central slowed the Trojans’ momentum by scoring the first six points of the second half, however, and went into the final period trailing by just three. It was still a four-point game, 40-36, after an Alan Cox free throw with 6:55 to go, but then the Flashes inexplicably let Center Grove hold the ball for nearly four minutes before even attempting to defend.
The visitors finally chose to put Jackson-Davis on the line with 1:32 remaining, and he made both free throws. Cox responded with a 3-pointer at the other end to make it 42-39. Landin Hacker then made a pair of foul shots, and Piercefield then came up with another steal and hit two of his own to stretch the lead to seven.
Center Grove made all eight of its fourth-quarter free throws to put it away. The Trojans hit 14 of 15 overall from the line.
"They were a really tough team tonight," Hahn said, "but I think late in the game our seniors showed great poise and confidence with the ball, and we made free throws down the stretch."
Jackson-Davis led Center Grove with 14 points, while Justin DeGraaf and Piercefield finished with 12 and 10, respectively.
