PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe Jets defeated the Arcanum Trojans 57-53 in the first round of the Jet Holiday tournament 57-53 in a non-conference matchup.
Both teams drained eight 3-pointers on the night, Arcanum made 14 2-point field goals to FM’s 12, but at the line the Jets connected on 9-14 while Arcanum was just 1-5 making the difference in the final score.
“You have to give a lot of credit to our kids and how hard they played,” said FM coach Troy Myers. “We had 12 guys in here last night that were alumni guys and I was simple before the game – just give an effort your alumni guys will be proud of and I thought from start to finish from wire to wire they did that.”
Arcanum took the opening period 17-12 led by two Ian Baker 3-pointers.
The Jets battled back to take the second quarter 19-7 to lead 31-24 at the halftime break with Franklin Monroe sophomore Jayce Byers pacing the Jets with 11-points in the period including three 3-pointers.
“Jayce was phenomenal and he was catching in rhythm and that’s what I like about him – tonight he just let it fly.” said Myers. “Jayce was doing a phenomenal job defensively too and that is what goes unnoticed a lot of times.”
Arcanum was three better in the third taking the period 13-10 sending the teams to the break with the Jets clinging to a 41-37 advantage.
The neighboring teams played even in the fourth period with both adding 16-points to the board giving the host team a 4-point victory.
“We shot the ball extremely well and fortunately we did because it still came down to the wire,” said Coach Myers. “This young team is learning on the fly and this was perfect for us – talking about a 3-point game down to the wire, 12-seconds left and you have to make two free throws.”
“I’m just so proud of our kids for having the fight and the grit,” added Myers. “We have had laps in our practices, we’ve had laps in our games. I thought tonight they put in a full four quarter game.”
Byers led Franklin Monroe and all scorers with a game high 24-points including six 3-pointers and three 2-point baskets.
BOXSCORE:
FRANKLIN MONROE 57, ARCANUM 53
FRANKLIN MONROE – J. Byers 24, K. Cool 11, A. Luchini 11, C. Baker 6, B. Diceanu 3, G. Sargent 2 – TOTALS 12 9-14 8 57
ARCANUM – C. Pitzer 11, C. Burke 10, I. Baker 10, C. Gray 9, J. Goubeaux 6, G. Delk 5, L. Todd 2 – TOTALS – 14 1-5 8 53
3-POINTERS
Franklin Monroe 8 (J. Byers 6, B. Diceanu 1, A. Luchini 1)
Arcanum 8 (C. Pitzer 3, J. Goubeaux 2, I. Baker 2, C. Gray 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS:
12-19-10-16 57 Franklin Monroe
17-07-13-16 53 Arcanum
