Andy Scheidler
sports@thefranklinpress.com
Hot shooting is carrying Franklin’s boys basketball team to victories.
The Panthers shot 51 percent from the field against Swain County on Friday, Dec. 20, and then made 54 percent of their shots at Rabun County on Saturday.
“I think it’s two things,” FHS coach Doug Plemmons said. “One, our shot selection is pretty good. Two, either by passing it inside or driving the ball to the basket, we’re getting a lot of shots in the paint. That’s always going to increase your percentage.”
The effective shooting led to an 84-40 victory over Swain. It was the most points Franklin has scored this year.
Miles McClure led the way with 19 points. He scored 10 of those points in the opening quarter, when FHS jumped out to a 27-11 lead.
“The big thing is we came ready to play,” Plemmons said. “We scored 27 points in the first quarter. That’s probably the best first quarter we’ve had in a long time. To see them come out and play that way, with a lot of transition, a lot of offense off defensive steals, and we did a good job establishing Miles early. That was good.”
McClure had a rim-rattling dunk in the second half. He intercepted a pass in front of Swain’s bench, managing to corral the ball and stay in bounds. He pushed it ahead and threw down a two-handed dunk from the right side of the rim.
It was Franklin’s second dunk of the game. Griffin Green flushed one early after getting a steal from his point position on defense.
Green scored 15 points.
Plemmons was particularly proud of his bench play against Swain. Forty of Franklin’s 84 points came from reserves.
“We have some guys coming off the bench who are good basketball players,” Plemmons said. “We see it in practice every day, but they haven’t been showing what they can do in the games.”
Brayden Sroka scored nine, Trey Woodard added eight and Seth Crupi had seven.
Despite having a huge lead, the bench players managed to maintain a high intensity level. They reached the 40-point threshold for a running clock when Woodard hit a 3-pointer with five minutes left.
“Sometimes when you have a big lead it’s hard to maintain that intensity,” Plemmons said. “Honestly, I felt like throughout the entire game we didn’t see a letdown. Even though the score got lopsided, I still think we stayed after it on both ends.”
FHS improved to 5-1 following a 70-54 victory at Rabun County.
Rabun made a 9-2 run to end the third quarter and pull with seven points. However, the Panthers were patient in the fourth quarter, running clock and sealing the victory by sinking free throws.
Franklin used an offense where players were encouraged to pass at least five times before looking to shoot, unless they had an open path for a layup.
“It allows us to move the basketball from one side of the court to the other side,” Plemmons said. “You can tell if the defense is going to break down or not when you shift from one side to the other. If it always stays on one side, you have pressure and help side from the other side. But if you flip it to the other side, sometimes you won’t see the breakdowns unless that happens.”
FHS shot the ball particularly well from behind the arc, sinking 8 of 16 attempts. Green hit four of the trifectas on six attempts. One of them came at the halftime buzzer, when he dribbled between his legs to shake off a pair of defenders before rising up and draining it.
Green also hit a 3-pointer to end the first quarter against Swain and hit a game-winning 3 in the prior game at Lakeview Academy.
Green led the way with 19 points against the Wildcats. Trey Penland added 14 and McClure scored 12.
Kellen Stiles scored a season-high eight points after sinking all six free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter.
FHS went 18-for-20 at the line against Rabun.
The Panthers went to a stall offense late in the fourth. Because they were able to drain the clock without turning it over, the Wildcats were repeatedly forced to foul.
“We made a lot of free throws down the stretch to extend the lead,” Plemmons said. “Those are the kind of things we’ll have to do during the season to win games.”
The Panthers will play three home games in four days: Friday against Highlands, Saturday against Rabun County and Monday against Tuscola.
“This time of the season I feel like if I were a player – and thinking back to my career, which it’s hard to remember that far back – at this point I’d rather play than practice,” Plemmons said.
Franklin has already beaten Highlands and Rabun County, but will have to be ready for Tuscola and junior Nate Bradford. The 6-foot-7 guard is averaging more than 40 points per game.
He’s able to play inside or outside, Plemmons said, and the Panthers might have to try some different things against him defensively.
“I don’t know if we have anybody who can single guard him,” Plemmons said. “We might run some people at him and force him out of his game a little bit, try to force the other players to make up the difference.”