Franklin guard Sam Auger drives against Floyd Central during Saturday’s regional semifinal.
Jeff Lubker | For the Daily Journal
SEYMOUR
As Franklin players and coaches walked off the court Saturday night at Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium, the sea of blue that drove south to support them stood as one.
Standing ovations aren’t usually directed at 12-15 basketball teams, but there it was.
Loud. Convincing. Sincere.
The Grizzly Cubs, who since mid-February have been adding believers and admirers alike with each victory, led the majority of the Class 4A regional championship game against Bloomington North.
However, Franklin, which was essentially operating on fumes the final eight minutes after gutting out a win in the day’s second semifinal, came up short, 75-69.
“That was part of it, but I also want to give props to Bloomington North,” first-year Franklin coach Adrian Moss said. “They made some big shots down the stretch. They made their free throws. Those guys stepped up to the plate, are well-coached and played a great game.
“But I think if this game’s not a back-to-back game, maybe we’ve got a little bit more in the tank to finish the game.”
The Grizzly Cubs were seeking their 13th regional championship overall and first since 1996-97 — the final season of single-class hoops in Indiana.
On Dec. 18, Franklin lost at Bloomington North, 68-42. The Cougars remained a force all season and now take a 24-3 mark into Saturday’s semistate against eighth-ranked Cathedral at the Hatchet House in Washington.
But these were the same Grizzly Cubs in name only than three months earlier.
The instant senior guard Sam Auger’s 3-pointer from the right wing touched the bottom of the net at 4:09 of the third period, Franklin appeared in the driver’s seat, leading, 43-34.
Bloomington North closed to 48-44 through three, then shifted to full-sprint mode by repeatedly executing either in transition or from the perimeter.
The Cougars, propelled by the efforts of 6-foot-7 junior wing JQ Roberts and senior point guard Nick Klaiber, outscored Franklin, 18-2. Roberts’ alley-oop feed to Klaiber for a layup at 6:18 of the fourth stanza put Bloomington North ahead for good, 51-50.
Franklin’s strategy of making the Cougars earn it at the charity stripe didn’t pan out. Bloomington North attempted 20 free throws over the final 3:33, converting 15, to put the game away.
Sophomore guard Micah Davis scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Cubs. Auger finished with 14, while senior guard Carson Hunter and soph backcourt mate Wyatt Nickleson provided 12 apiece.
In the locker room afterward, Moss emphasized to his four seniors — Auger, Hunter, senior post Tristan Coleman and backup forward Thomas Crow — what they mean to the program.
“They are in the history books at Franklin forever,” Moss said. “We’ve never played in a 4A regional championship before. They’re the first team to ever do that. They changed the culture at Franklin, so I’ll never forget those four seniors.”
Nor will they forget rebounding from a 6-14 start to win six of their final seven games.
“It’s been a ton of fun,” Auger said. “I think we’ve got the best coaches in the state. I think we’ve got the most fun team in the state. We all stuck together. We believed in it from the beginning, and all the players stepped up.”
In the afternoon semifinal, Franklin finished with four players in double figures in holding off Floyd Central for a 58-51 victory.
The Grizzly Cubs led by 14 points early in the fourth quarter before the Highlanders staged a furious rally to make it a 52-49 game with 3:09 remaining.Franklin, however, remained composed, scoring a huge hoop on the 6-6 Coleman’s putback of a missed baseline 3-point attempt from Nickleson at the 2:18 mark.
Floyd Central scored on an inbounds play 19 ticks later, but the Cubs closed it out with one-and-one charities from Hunter and Davis. Both were fouled after rebounding missed 3-pointers by 6-5 Floyd Central senior wings Cole Harritt and Brady Moore.
Hunter led the Grizzly Cubs with 16 points, followed by Davis with 13 and seven rebounds. Auger scored 11 points and Coleman had 10.
Floyd Central (20-5), which outrebounded Franklin, 28-17, was led in scoring by Moore’s 15 points and junior Caleb Washington with 14.
“It’s been amazing,” Hunter said of his final season. “From the ups and downs of this year … if you would’ve told us a couple months ago we were going to be playing in the regional championship and be up at halftime, we probably wouldn’t have believed you.
“I mean, we always believed in ourselves, but at the end of the day we have to be happy with what happened. Obviously, we thought we could do more, but I think we can call this season a success. We’ve got a lot of young guys playing, and I think Franklin is going to be a problem in the future for a lot of these schools.”
