Panther men’s varsity hoops are on to the conference semifinal.
After another strong regular season, winning 15 of their 23 games, on Feb. 16 Franklin tipped off the Mountain Seven Tournament. In a 70-64 win over Pisgah on Tom Raby Court, Doug Plemmons’ team advanced to a semifinal matchup with West Henderson Feb. 20.
Having finished the year with a 7-5 record in the conference, the fourth-place Panthers hosted the fifth-place Black Bears in a packed house. In a rematch of two narrow Franklin wins this regular season, the rivals again looked evenly matched in the first. Despite seven points, an assist and a steal from junior forward Noah Brannon, Franklin ended the quarter down 19-16.
Junior guard Max McClure heated up to start the second, posting five points and one of two Panther steals in the first two minutes. With a 3-pointer to put his team up 21-19, McClure recorded his 1,001st career point for Franklin, becoming just the third Panther ever to reach the milestone after his brother, Miles, and Miles’ teammate Griffin Green. The historic achievement was McClure’s second in as many weeks, having broken Franklin’s all-time single-game scoring record with 47 points against Smoky Mountain Feb. 6.
After a short break to recognize McClure’s 1,000th point, the junior resumed frustrating Pisgah’s defense. Between seven more points from McClure and strong team defense on the other end, the Panthers ended the half up 37-28.
Franklin turned red-hot from beyond the arc to start the third, sinking four straight 3-pointers including two from Brannon. The junior scored three more points and took a hard charge at the other end to finish the quarter up 59-48.
Despite five more points from Brannon, Pisgah made up ground in the fourth, cutting their deficit to 64-62 with two minutes to play. McClure refused to let the game slip away however, scoring Franklin’s final six points en route to a 70-64 win.
“It feels great getting to beat Pisgah three times in one season,” said senior Reed Raby after the game. “That’s pretty awesome, and pretty tough to do, too, so I’m just glad we got to do it.”
After completing their season sweep over Pisgah, the Panthers traveled to second-place West Henderson after press time Feb. 20. Franklin entered the conference semifinal having lost both games with the Falcons this season, 64-44 in Hendersonville and 61-51 in Franklin.
“It’s gonna be tough. We lost to them twice in the regular season, but I think we can do it,” said Raby. “We just have to play our kind of basketball, and we’ll win.”