PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe Jets flew past the Minster Wildcats in the Coaches vs Cancer Classic at the Hangar Saturday night.
The Jets hung a loss on the Auglaize County squad in a classic matchup by the tune of 59-54 in the non-league tilt.
The Conley brothers tilted and whirled past the Wildcats for 45 points combined. Senior Mason Conley out-did his younger brother, sophomore Ethan Conley by 1 point, 23 to 22. The Conley duo scored 45 of the 59 points for FM, accounting for 76 percent of the scoring output for the entire squad.
The first quarter saw the Wildcats clawing to a 15-12 lead, silencing the home-standing Jets. For the first eight minutes of action Franklin Monroe was led by Mason Conley and Ethan Conley, who canned in 6 points apiece.
Franklin Monroe answered strongly in the second canto by matching its 12 point total in the first while taming the Wildcats, holding them to a meager 8 points. Ethan Conley and junior Kyle Ressler led the Jets in this eight minutes of action by scoring 5 points apiece. Mason Conley added two freebies. The final count heading into the locker was a nail-biter at 24-23 for Franklin Monroe.
The third quarter was more intriguing as the Jets fueled in 14 points only to be outdone by Minster, who had 15. This locked it up at 38 apiece awaiting the final eight minutes of action in the last frame.
Third quarter firings showed Mason Conley scoring 7 points, scoring all ways possible. Ethan Conley made a 3-pointer along with juniors Zach Cable and Cole McGlinch popping in 2 points each.
Fourth quarter shooting fireworks by both squads lit up the Pitsburg gymnasium. The Jets exploded for 21 points in the frame. The Wildcats blistered the nets for 16, which was their highest scoring quarter of the evening.
The Jets were fueled by Mason Conley and Ethan Conley, who matched each other with 8 points each. Cable and McGlinch helped the aerial assault with 2 apiece, and junior Parker Hessler made a free throw.
“This is our fourth win in a row and hopefully more to go,” Franklin Monroe boys basketball coach Troy Myers said. “Mason Conley got to the rim and created some openings. Our defense did a good job, and we were able to shut down a team that scored 74 points against Versailles last night. We shot free throws better, and we are getting more cohesiveness on the court. The kids are very passionate about wanting to figure things out when the game is not going well. We are now 12-4 and 7-1 in the conference as we need someone to knock off league-leader Bethel for us.”
Totals for the home-standing Jets of FM showed Mason Conley with 23 points, Ethan Conley 22, Ressler 5, Cable 4, McGlinch 4 and Hessler with 1.
Final scoring for the now 7-7 squad of Wildcats had Isaac Dorsten with 16, Bryce Schmiessing 14, Mike Ketner 9, Cody Frericks 4, Jarod Schulze 4, Aaron Ernst 4 and Andrew Broering with 3.
