Franklin College’s Carter Crowe fires a 3-pointer during Wednesday’s game against Transylvania.
Sam Findley | For the Daily Journal
Franklin College had been reliant all year on the 3-point shot, and Wednesday was no different.
The undersized Grizzlies squad that faced Transylvania needed to cash in from long range and did, hitting 12 of 31 shots from beyond the arc to claim a narrow 74-70 home win.
Carter Crowe led the Grizzlies (6-4, 2-1 HCAC) with 18 points, knocking down four 3-pointers. Ryan Bostic and Trey Flatt each added 17 points and hit three 3s; for Bostic, the scoring output was a career high.
“My team kept finding me,” Bostic said. “They kept penetrating and then (Transylvania) were helping so I was just knocking out open shots. When you see it go through, it’s nice to keep shooting it up.”
For the first half, the 3-point barrage that seemed necessary for a victory was in full swing. The interior defense, however, was not. The Grizzlies cashed in on 7 of 17 3s but allowed 20 points in the paint while only scoring six themselves. Fortunately for Franklin, three points are greater than two, so going into the half the visiting Pioneers found themselves in a 35-30 hole.
The deep balls that led to the Grizzlies’ first-half success carried over to a lesser extent in the second half, but Transylvania stuck around for the remainder of the game thanks to second-chance opportunities.
Three 3s and a layup helped Franklin build a 10-point lead four minutes into the second half, but the Pioneers would claw themselves back into the game, cutting the deficit to 69-64 on a Jaylan Green pull-up bucket with 2:32 left.
But Lynn King (13 rebounds) came up with a clutch layup for the Grizzlies to make it 73-68 with 1:16 left, and Flatt grabbed a pair of boards and hit a free throw in the final six seconds to seal the ball game.
First-year Grizzlies head coach Chris Hamilton was happy to come away with what was his team’s fourth win in the last five games.
“We’re just trying to get to celebrate every time that you can come out one point ahead of the other team,” he said. “There’s no easy games in this conference.”
