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Franklin holds off late rally to defeat Smoky Mountain
Franklin held off a Smoky Mountain rally for a 71-69 non-conference basketball victory on Jan. 3 at the SM gym.
The Mustangs managed just 14 points in the first half and trailed by 15 shortly after intermission. They were down 12 with a little over three minutes to play before staging the comeback that fell just short.
Aaron Garrett pumped in 28 points for the Panthers. Ward Collins finished with 17, and Shawn Wilson had 10.
Smoky Mountain’s Martin Davis tries to gain control of the ball in last week’s 71-69 loss to Franklin. Davis scored 11 points. – Photo by Mark Haskett
Dillon Dunford led SM with 20 points. Providing scoring support were Cory Siler with 14, Martin Davis with 11 and Tyson Crawford with 10.
“We scored 55 points in the second half,” Coach Scott Hartbarger said. “We became more aggressive attacking the zone, and our defensive intensity picked up in the second half. If we had another minute or so, we probably could have pulled it out.”
The Panthers were up 60-48 after Garrett’s basket with 3:28 to play.
The Mustangs fought back and cut the gap to 66-64 on Dunford’s runner with 38 seconds on the clock.
Collins’ two free throws put the lead back to four.
A follow shot by Dayne Bowers made it 69-67 with 11 seconds left.
Two foul shots by James Cook with 6.8 seconds remaining put the Panthers up 71-67 enabling them to withstand’s Dunford’s buzzer-beater.
Franklin held a 29-14 lead when Garrett scored inside to start the second half.
Dunford scored four points in the final 18 seconds of the third stanza narrowing the deficit to 45-39.
Garrett’s six points keyed an early 9-1 run for an 11-3 Franklin lead with 3:40 to go in the first period.
The Panthers were up 17-8 at the quarter break.
Garrett had four points in an 8-2 spurt extending the margin to 25-12 with 1:04 to play in the half.
Franklin led 27-14 at intermission.
Dunford made seven field goals, including a trio of three-pointers, and three of four foul shots. Siler connected on four field goals and six of seven free throws. All three of Davis’ field goals were treys, and he was two of two from the line. Crawford hit three field goals and four of four free throws.
Bowers finished with six points, Josh Jones and C.J. Fortner both scored three and Matt Hawkins had two.
Dunford, Crawford, Davis and Siler all played well in the second half, according to Hartbarger.
The Mustang JVs came from behind for a 35-33 win as David Cheatham scored the last four points. Jared Jones led SM with 13.
Franklin led at quarter breaks by scores of 11-3, 17-11 and 28-22.
“From day one we’ve tried to stress you’re going to win with defensive,” Coach Jim Hartbarger said. “Tonight they finally did it. They got every loose ball and got after it. We beat a quality opponent.”
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