PITSBURG – Despite playing from behind much of the night, the Franklin Monroe boys basketball team was able to defeat Bradford 55-48 in a Cross County Conference game Friday.
In the first quarter the Jets were the first to score at the 7:20 mark. However, the Railroaders answered right back with a 3-pointer, and then they hit another 3 at the 6:05 mark.
Soon the Jets found themselves down by 7, then by 9 at the 3:28 mark and then 10 at the 1:38 mark. However, the Jets brought the lead to only being down by 5 with 1:03 on the clock.
At the end of the first quarter the score was 16-11 in favor of the Railroaders.
In the second quarter Bradford opened with a basket within the first 10 seconds and soon Franklin Monroe was back down by 9. The Jets decreased the deficit again to 3 by the 3:13 mark before falling behind by 6 with 1:30 remaining in the half.
The Jets started making baskets, though, and brought it back within 2 with 18.3 seconds remaining in the quarter. Then with 10 seconds left to play Jets tied the game up for the first time, sending the game into halftime knotted at 23-all.
In the third quarter Franklin Monroe fell behind again, first by 3 with 6:05 remaining in the period and then by 5 with 4:50 left.
However, the Jets brought it back within 2 with three minutes remaining and reduced their deficit to 1 shortly thereafter. In the final minutes of the third quarter Franklin Monroe took the lead and pushed it to 4 moments later, eventually finishing the quarter up 37-34.
In the fourth quarter Bradford had several shots rim out of the basket. The Railroaders also had to contend with foul trouble having nine second half fouls before Franklin Monroe was whistled for one.
With those struggles Bradford fell behind by 7 with 2:09 remaining. Franklin Monroe then increased its lead to 9 points and ended up winning 55-48.
The Bradford Railroaders were led by Parker Smith with 20 points, Andy Branson with 16 points, Walker Branson with 5 points, Josh Phillips with 5 points and Alex Swabb with 2 points.
Leading the Jets was Ethan Conley with 22 points, Mason Conley with 13 points, Zach Cable with 8 points, Kameron Thurmond with 5 points, Kyle Ressler with 4 points and Parker Hesler with 3 points.
