PITSBURG – Mississinawa Valley found itself matched up against host Franklin Monroe in the opening round of the 54th Jet Holiday Tournament.
The smaller Blackhawks struggled early to find a way to negate the size advantage the Jets had as the Franklin Monroe boys basketball team jumped on top 20-11 in the first quarter
Trent Perkins had the hot hand for MV, scoring 8 of his team-high 12 points for the Blackhawks in the frame.
Franklin Monroe, behind the play of 6-foot 9-inch Kameron Thurmond inside, had six points while sophomore Ethan Conley poured in 8 points to match MV’s Perkins.
The Hawks held strong in the second period and doubled up in the post, but that left Parker Hesler open from the outside, and the FM junior knocked down to triples for 12 points for the Jets.
Mississinawa freshman Alex Scholl gave the Blackhawks a boost off the bench, scoring 5 points in the period … but the Jets held a 32-21 lead at the break.
The game got a little sloppy in the third quarter, but FM expanded its lead with Ethan Conley putting an exclamation point on it with a two-handed flush as the Jets went up 46-27 and appeared to be in complete control at the end of the third quarter.
Mississinawa Valley is a young team, and the Blackhawks showed some toughness in the fourth quarter playing hard until the very end.
The Hawks drained four triples in the final stanza, scoring 14 points, but it was not enough on this night at the Jets took home the victory, 54-41.
Ethan Conley led all scorers on the night with 20 points, and Thurmond added 11 in the win.
Mississinawa Valley was paced by Perkins with 12, and Ethan Bowman was held to just 9 points.
Mississinawa will play Arcanum in the consolation game at 6 p.m. tonight.
Franklin Monroe will take on Brookville in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. and will be live on WTGR 97.5.
Score by quarters:
FM … 20…12…14…08 – 54
MV … 11…10…06…14 – 41
Individual scoring:
FM – Ressler 5, Hesler 8, Cable 5, McGlinch 6, E. Conley 20, Thurmond 11 – Total 54
MV – A. Scholl 5, Bowman 9, Perkins 12, Gacasan 3, Howell 2, Slob 2, Dirksen 5, B. Scholl 3 – Totals 41
