Panther men’s hoops are co-regular season conference champs.
On the week of Feb. 9, Franklin played their biggest games so far, hosting their season finale and tipping off the Mountain Eight tournament. With a win over West Henderson they finished 12-2 in the conference, tying East Henderson for first.
On Feb. 10, they hosted West on Tom Raby Court to rehash a Panther blowout road win Jan. 16. In honor of Senior Night, Franklin’s five seniors started the game, including Jack-Jack Teesateskie, Peyton Hervey, Addix Sutton, Jackson Wilson and Nolan Collins. Teesateskie dominated the first, scoring 12 points to end the quarter up 14-5.
Gunner McConnell and Lance Parker heated up in the second, combining for 14 points, a block and a steal. West kept pace on the other end, finishing the half down 30-20.
Franklin’s defense held firm in the third, racking up four steals including two from Teesateskie. Will Rauers added five points to take a 43-29 lead.
With West still in the game, Rauers turned red-hot in the fourth, racking up 15 points, a steal and one assist. McConnell added three steals on the other end en route to a 70-44 blowout.
“It felt great,” said Hervey after the game of the Senior Night win. “We’d talked about it for a while, and we just came together. We didn’t shoot the ball really well in the first half, but we came together more in the middle of the third quarter, so it felt great.”
In blowing out West, Franklin improved their record to 20-4 overall and 12-2 in the Mountain Eight, where they ended their regular season tied with East Henderson for first. From there the Panthers turned their attention to the conference tournament.
Having split two games with East this regular season, Franklin earned the #1 seed due to their head-to-head record versus Pisgah, having swept the third-place Black Bears while East split the Canton/Flat Rock series. As the top-ranked team Franklin drew the #8 seed in Round 1, setting up a second straight game with 1-13 West.
“We’ll have to play West first, and then we’ll probably play the winner of Smoky and North Henderson,” said Hervey of Franklin’s tournament draw. “Regardless of who we play [should Franklin reach the conference final], East or Pisgah, with the way we’ve been playing recently, we should be good.”
On Feb. 12, the Panthers traveled to Smoky Mountain for their second game with the Falcons in three days. Once again Franklin dominated the first, getting 10 points, three steals and two assists from Rauers. Parker added six points to end the quarter up 20-6.
Teesateskie came out firing in the second, racking up 10 of Franklin’s 13 points. Rauers added three points and three steals to end the half with a 33-20 lead.
Parker shot out of the gate in the third, racking up nine points and a steal. Rauers added three points, two steals and two assists to end the quarter up 51-31.
Jake Pendergrass heated up in the fourth, posting two 3-pointers and a block. Nolan Collins added eight points down the stretch to cement a 76-43 rout.
From there Franklin advanced to the tournament semifinal, facing fifth-ranked Smoky after press time Feb. 17. The Press will report on that game’s result in next week’s edition.