Franklin High beats King Philip once more, 58-50 in Boys Basketball

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Siddharth Chandra

The Boys Basketball team took a win on the road against KP to get to 2-0 on the year

WRENTHAM – Not even a month after their Thanksgiving Day football loss, King Philip (KP) suffered two more losses to Franklin High this past Friday. With the girls taking care of business at home, FHS Boys Basketball picked up a tight 58-50 at KP to move to 2-0 on the season. The atmosphere of the game was similar to a playoff matchup with both student sections filling the stands. The game between the two rivals, which dropped KP to 0-1, saw a defensive struggle in the first half with shot opportunities coming at a premium.

Senior Captain #5 Justin Allen will be a sharpshooter that other teams certainly have to look out for (Siddharth Chandra)

The night started on a high for the Panthers as they jumped out to a 7-1 lead; Senior Captain Justin Allen got Rattle City going with his early three-pointer. KP would not allow themselves to fall into a deficit early in the game. In the blink of an eye, the hosts took an 8-7 lead.

The first quarter would end 13-11 in favor of Franklin. The Panthers got a majority of their production outside of the arc with Junior Sean O’Leary and Allen each hitting from deep to close out the first quarter. However, the pace of the game changed in the 2nd quarter, which forced Franklin to change their style of play.

Franklin started the 2nd with a 6-1 run to put themselves up 19-12. Although the Panthers started the quarter off with an important run, KP, once more, got into a groove. The Warriors began capitalizing off Franklin’s turnovers, getting themselves within 3 towards the end of the half. Both teams got cold from outside the arc, leading to the aforementioned defensive battle. Franklin maintained the two-point lead they had after the 1st quarter, going into the locker room for halftime leading 24-22.

The defensive trend continued into the 3rd Quarter. It wasn’t until the quarter’s final minutes that the Panthers started to take control of the game, eventually leading to their win.

Senior Captain #33 Ben Harvey helped kickstart the Panthers’ paint dominance on Friday Night (Siddharth Chandra)

The pace of the scoring by both teams had picked up: With three minutes left in the third, it was 35-32 Franklin. This is when the tone of the game started to change for the Panthers, as Franklin Senior Captain Ben Harvey took more initiative while Junior Bradley Herndon scored a nice layup off a spin move. Franklin started to attack the rim and find second-chance points.

“When we get to the paint, good things happen,” O’Leary said post-game. The junior would finish with 14 points.

Franklin would end the 3rd up 40-37, having the momentum going into the 4th. Harvey took a charge at the end of the 3rd, symbolizing Franklin’s control of the game.

The Panthers continued their paint domination into the 4th along with more shooting from Allen, who looks to be this year’s sharpshooter for Franklin. Jacques would add on free throws from a technical foul. Jacques added a putback bucket, forcing a KP timeout with Franklin up 47-39.

“We’re a strong team when it comes to driving the ball.” Jacques said after scoring 10 points off the bench.

The Warriors tried to claw back late, scoring a quick layup and then forcing a turnover to pull within 4. Looking to bring things back to a one-score game, KP tried to convert a fastbreak bucket, but O’Leary’s perfectly executed chase-down block ended the hosts’ chance at a comeback.

The Panthers now turn their attention to Foxboro, as they host the Warriors in their home opener tomorrow on Tuesday, December 20th, at 6:30.