Franklin’s Micah Davis, right, looks for an open teammate as he gets double-teamed by two Whiteland defenders during Friday’s sectional semifinal.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
ST. LEON
Certain factors must align for Franklin and Whiteland to revisit their decades-old rivalry three times in a single season.
For only the fourth time this century, this was one of those occasions.
The Grizzly Cubs downed the Warriors, 66-56, in Friday night’s second semifinal to qualify for tonight’s championship game. Franklin meets host East Central after the Trojans did their part with a 41-37 semifinal decision over Columbus East.
Senior guard Micah Davis recovered from a somewhat slow start — for him, at least — by coming back from from a 2-of-8 start from the floor to pour in 33 points. Junior forward Kolt Nelson did his part with 20 points and a game-high 12 rebounds as Franklin improved to 17-4.
During the regular season, Whiteland defended its home floor with a 67-64 victory over the Cubs in the first round of the Johnson County tournament. A mere 10 days later, Franklin returned the favor, pulling out a 58-55 win in overtime.
“My whole life playing Whiteland, those guys I played tonight I’ve played against since I was a little kid,” Nelson said. “Every time I’ve played them, it’s always been a rivalry. They put us out first round of county this year, and then we came back and we beat them, too.
“We always come out strong every game. The last two games against them we’ve been up 10, and they’ve came back. The first game they beat us, and the second one we were able to hold them off. We knew they were going to come out firing the second half.”
Boy, did they.
Franklin, which led by as many as 13 points in the opening half before settling in with a 31-21 halftime lead, saw Whiteland open the third stanza on a 13-2 scoring run, culminated by a Jazz Banwait layup that gave the Warriors a 34-33 advantage.
The Grizzly Cubs answered on Wyatt Nickleson’s 3-pointer from the left corner and one of Davis’ many layups. Whiteland again responded, this time on hoops from juniors Gavin Stubbe and backup guard Spencer Gillespie to tie the score at 38-38.
Whiteland’s second and final lead came on forward Akol Akol’s three-point sequence at the 1:17 mark. Franklin closed the quarter with baskets from Nelson and Davis, then began the fourth with a 15-3 burst of its own to take a 15-point command, 59-44.
Warriors junior wing Ethan Edwards proceeded to tally eight of his team-high 16 points to pull his team within seven points at the 2:14 mark. The Grizzly Cubs responded, converting seven of eight free throw attempts in the final 2:06.
Banwait added 13 points in his final outing for Whiteland. He and fellow senior Wiatt McLaughlin received hugs from teammates and coaches after checking out of the game with 36.1 seconds remaining.
“First of all, (Whiteland coach Nate Cangany) is a heck of a coach. Whiteland’s a great program, and we’re working together to build that southside,” Franklin coach Adrian Moss said. “We both want to be ranked, and I think we’re both moving in the right direction.
“On our side, I think we competed. I think we’ve done what we’ve done most of the year. We were 16-4 for a reason; we’ve won some good road games and we’re battle-tested. We’re senior-led, we’ve been through the fire. We’ve been put out of sectionals, we’ve been to the Elite Eight. They did what I expected them to do, and I’m proud of that, because it doesn’t always go that way.”
