PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe Boys Basketball team pulled away from Dixie in the second quarter and then held on late in the game to win the non-conference game 57-52.
In the opening quarter the Jets had trouble stopping 6’3” junior guard Jordan Butt who scored the first 10 points for Dixie as they built a 10-6 lead.
Franklin Monroe though responded with Jayce Byers hitting two triples and one by Gabe Sargent as the Jets battled to a 14-14 tie at the end of the 1st quarter.
The Jets defensively was able to shut down Butt not only in the second quarter but limited him to just two free throws the rest of the way and Dixie struggled to score.
Offensively the Jets looked sharp executing on offense as Aidan Luchini scored all 9 of his points in the game in the period. Another triple by Byers and 5 points from Ky Cool gave FM a 31-22 lead at the break.
Dixie played even with Franklin Monroe in the 3rd quarter, Gabe Sargent had 6 points and Ky Cool 5 in the period to give the Jets a 47-36 lead heading into the final stanza.
But if anyone has seen Dixie play this year they would know the kids play hard and never quit and the Greyhounds would make things interesting.
After the Jets had stretched their lead to 51-40 with 5:30 to play, the pace on offense slowed down and Dixie climbed back in the game to 53-48 by the 1:36 mark.
The Jets were finally able to get into the bonus but missed some free throws and Drew Huffman connected on a trey and a deuce for Dixie making it 55-52 with 15 seconds to play. But Cavin Baker sealed the game with a couple of charity tosses to give FM the 57-52 non-conference win.
The Jets again showed good balance on offense with nearly all the starters scoring in double figures. Ky Cool led with 13, Jayce Byers 12, Caving Baker & Gabe Sargent 11 and Aidan Luchini had 9 points.
Talking with Franklin Monroe coach Troy Myers after the game, he was obviously happy to get the win but also would like to see his team finish better.
“I give a lot of credit to Dixie and their kids ,if you look at the scores of their games, they have been every one, they play hard all the way and never quit,” Myers said.
“We tried to express that to our kids and maybe we let up a little and Dixie knocked down a few shots and was right back in the game,” Myers added.
“We played well most of the night, we just need to improve on staying locked in and focused for an entire game,” Myers concluded.
FM improves to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in the conference and will host Newton on Friday for Homecoming.
Box Scores
Score by Quarters:
DIX 14 … 08 … 14 … 16 – 52
FM 14 … 17 … 16 … 10 – 57
Team Scoring:
DIX – Butt 12, D.Huffman 11, Myers 12, Hawk 4, K.Huffman 10, Grayman 3; Totals 9-8-8/14 – 52
FM – Cool 13, Baker 11, Wright 1, Byers 12, Sargent 11, Luchini 9; Totals 8-12-9/19 – 57
