Franklin basketball teams sweep Greenwood

At some point here soon, the Franklin boys basketball team will actually play a game with all of its best players available.

The moment can’t come soon enough for second-year Grizzly Cubs coach Adrian Moss.

On Friday, Franklin gutted out a 43-40 home victory over longtime county and conference rival Greenwood to improve to 3-2 on the season and 1-1 in the Mid-State Conference.

In a game featuring 11 lead changes by late in the third quarter, the Woodmen, much as they tried, weren’t able to manufacture a 12th.

Greenwood’s record is 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the league.

“First off, I want to give (Greenwood coach Joe) Bradburn all the credit in the world,” Moss said. “That dude, he’s a great coach. Every time we play them, he’s prepared, he’s ready, he’s calling out our stuff. They play their game down to a T.

“We want to play our style, but we’re not there yet. We still haven’t played with all of our guys. (Junior forward) Jayden Razor is sick tonight. John Shepard was sick all week, and shows up on Friday and plays. I want to see what it looks like when we start getting some chemistry.”

Franklin had three players score in double digits, led by junior guard Micah Davis with 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Senior post Dylan Beverly went for 12 points, as did junior guard Wyatt Nickleson. Greenwood guard Jake Mosemann was the game’s top scorer with 18.

The Grizzly Cubs opened up a seven-point margin late, 43-36, but Greenwood put together one final surge on two Mosemann free throws and sophomore Wyatt Peterson’s charities, the latter with 50.7 seconds showing.

Davis had an opportunity to ice it with eight ticks left, but his free throw was off the mark.

Greenwood wound up offering up two final shot attempts, a Mosemann triple that was partially blocked by Beverly, and Cade Kelly’s rebound, quick retreat behind the 3-point stripe and misfire from the right wing.

“It’s a big change from last year with a lot of new guys stepping up,” said Franklin junior guard Grant Hunter, who came off the bench to contribute some strong defensive play, including a steal and layup to open the fourth stanza. “Slowly, we’re getting there.

“Playing Greenwood, it’s always going to be low-scoring, a slower game. Defense is key, and making sure we get a good shot every possession.”

Moss, while happy with the W, knows there are other strides his team must make before having a chance to maximize its potential.

“Overall, as a team, we have to grow up,” Moss said. “We have to mature. We’re too emotional. We overreact to everything on the court right now. We play hard. We compete. We have to find that balance of having that chip on our shoulder, wanting to win, but not letting our emotions control us and get out of our element.”

In the girls game, Franklin scored the opening 11 points and never looked back in a 59-28 victory.

Junior wing Scarlett Kimbrell knocked down four triples on her way to a game-high 16 points for the Grizzly Cubs (7-3, 3-0). Senior guard Kyndell Jochim added 13 points and six rebounds as Franklin finished with a 30-21 advantage on the glass. Defensively, the Cubs forced the Woodmen (6-5, 2-1) into 24 turnovers.

“We talked about getting off to a good start and play from the lead,” Grizzly Cubs coach Mike Armstrong said. “We wanted to get into our full-court game, and I think we were able to do that.

“I also thought we were pretty good on the offensive boards tonight. The game was in transition a lot, but there were times when I thought our half-court defense wasn’t too bad.”