It’s a chance for redemption.
“We have a little bit of unfinished business to take care of,” Tres Rogers said.
Franklin’s JV boys basketball team will play at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the championship game of the Mountain Six Conference tournament. A victory would be a fitting way to a cap a tremendous season.
The Panthers are 22-1 overall and went 10-0 in MSC play to win the regular season title.
FHS won the regular season title a year ago, but suffered a lopsided loss to Pisgah in the final.
Redeeming themselves by winning the tournament has been a goal all year for Rogers, who was an assistant coach last year, and the Panthers.
“We messed up last season and didn’t play well in the final,” Rogers said, “and these guys want to correct that and come out with another championship to add to our great season thus far.”
The Panthers finished the regular season Feb. 11 with a 58-34 win over Smoky Mountain.
Keagan Pollock led the way with 15 points. Dawson Green added 13 points.
Other leading scorers were Bradley Stiles (seven), Grant Adams (seven), Kehler Lamb (five) and Chris McGuire (four).
“But our defense is the star of the show and every single one of these guys 1-16 get the credit for that,” Rogers said.
As the No. 1 seed, Franklin hosted the first round of the MSC tournament against No. 4 Brevard.
The Panthers overcame a slow start to win 48-41 in Friday’s game, getting a battle from the Blue Devils (who tied for last place in the conference during the regular season with Hendersonville and East Henderson).
Brevard rebounds well and is bigger than Franklin, which bothered Rogers. But he knew the Panthers would play hard and rebound.
“We get after it on the boards,” Rogers said, “but they did a great job using their size and getting us pushed in under the basket in the first half.”
The pace of the game was much slower than the Panthers are accustomed to or what they like to play.
“There were a lot of whistles in the first half. It seemed like every trip down the floor a whistle blew,” Rogers said. “That’s frustrating and it keeps us from getting into our press, which speeds the other team up. But we have won games playing slow at times this year so it’s nothing we haven’t seen. The foul trouble did put pressure on our bench guys to step up and I thought the bench played well all evening.”
Clinging to a small lead, the Panthers relied on taking care of the ball and making free throws. FHS went 5-for-9 at the line in the final quarter, compared to 1-for-4 for the Blue Devils.
“We have leaned on the defense all year,” Rogers said, “but we have also made the free throws when we had to.”
Green went 4-for-6 at the charity stripe down the stretch to seal the win. He scored a team-high 11.
Pollock added 10, while Devyn Blackburn provided a spark off the bench and scored nine points.
“Deyvn came in and gave us a lift,” Rogers said. “He scored all of his nine points in the first half, but brought energy and rebounding as well. I thought he had a great game when we needed him to step up.”
Waiting in Thursday’s tournament title game (being played at East Henderson) is Smoky Mountain. Franklin beat the No. 3 seed Mustangs last week in addition to a 59-46 road win in January.