Men win first three games
Panther men’s basketball is 3-0 to start the year.
Upon returning from Thanksgiving Break, Doug Plemmons’ team had a busy week, opening their regular season with three games against tough opponents. In wins over Rabun County, Georgia, Cherokee and Swain, the young Panther roster looked ready to compete throughout the winter.
On Tuesday, Nov. 28, the team crossed the state line for their season opener with Rabun. There, a talented Wildcat team shot out of the gate, taking a 14-6 early lead and forcing Plemmons to call timeout. After talking things over midway through the first however, Franklin shifted into gear, getting five points from junior Max McClure to end the quarter down 25-15.
McClure stayed hot into the second, posting an assist and steal and two more points to cut his team’s deficit to six. Promising freshman Will Rauers helped complete the first-half comeback, adding four points, an assist and a steal to end the quarter down 35-34.
Junior forward Noah Brannon heated up to start the third, sinking two 3-pointers to put his team up 43-38. Junior guard Braylen Dezarn added four points, an assist and a steal to end the quarter up 47-44.
Senior center Jacob Gibson made his presence known in the fourth, posting a steal and a block in the opening minutes. McClure expanded Franklin’s lead from there, racking up 13 points and steal to give his team the win, 64-57.
After dispatching Rabun, two nights later the team returned to Franklin for another tough game with Cherokee. There, the Braves largely controlled the first quarter, ending the period up 15-7 despite five points from Brannon.
Franklin chipped away at the Braves’ lead in the second, getting three steals and four points from junior center Brayden Hervey. Rauers added two steals and three points to end the half down just 29-27.
Dezarn turned red-hot after the half, racking up 14 points, two assists and a steal in the third. Brannon added 10 points and an assist to end the quarter up 54-40.
Dezarn stayed hot into the final period, posting six points in the opening minutes to help keep Cherokee at bay. Despite a brief comeback attempt to cut their deficit to 65-59, the Braves were forced to foul Franklin in the final minutes, who stayed cool at the free throw line to win the game 77-67.
After their win over Cherokee, on Dec. 2 the Panthers traveled to Swain, where they continued their strong week against the Maroon Devils.
“Swain has a solid team; they returned four out of five starters from last year, and so we knew that experience was gonna be on their side,” said Plemmons. “They had two or three kids that were around the 6’3” to 6’5” range, so we had to deal with that, and they’re obviously the biggest team that we’ve played so far this year. We were able to do some things to pull them away from the basket, and then defensively we were able to pressure them enough to where it bothered them. They weren’t comfortable and they had to worry about someone running at them all the time, so I felt good about the win.”
In a 73-60 win over Swain, Franklin improved to 3-0 on the season. With four players (McClure, Brannon, Dezarn and Rauers) averaging more than 15 points per game so far, Plemmons credited his young team for their early-season efforts.
“It was good win for us that wrapped up a three-game week, which is a little tough starting out the season,” he said of the game in Bryson City. “The boys are excited about our start. You never know sometimes when you’re plugging in a lot of new faces, but they’ve worked extremely hard.”