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Franklin
Monroe Sophomore Devon Fourman goes to the bucket in the Jets
53-51 victory
over Troy Christian Monday. The Jets earned the right to
tangle with Tri-Village in the title game
as the Patriots rolled over
Arcanum, 64-41. CNO Photo by Dylan Knoop
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Franklin Monroe holds
off T/C Eagles
By George Starks
Sports Editor
Pitsburg - Troy Christian had its chance. With 4.4 seconds remaining,
the visiting Eagles had their chance to pull out a huge victory over
host Franklin Monroe in the annual Franklin Monroe Jet Holiday
Tournament.
With things knotted 53-53, senior Jaden Horner hit two big foul shots,
giving the Jets a 55-53 lead. Troy Christian had one last chance to
either win it or put the game into overtime.
The ball went the length of the floor only to see Eagle freshman Grant
Zawadzki leave the ball short off the front of the rim after taking it
down the middle of the paint as the Jets won by that slim two point
margin.
With 6:47 remaining to be played, Troy Christian held a slim 38-36 lead
but Franklin Monroe went on a 12-0 run to build a 48-38 advantage with
2:46 left in the game.
At that point, the Eagles started chipping away, going on a 11-4 run to
get to within 52-49 with 27 seconds remaining, taking care of the Jets
inability to shoot foul shots.
“They (TC) weren’t going to go away,” said Jets coach Marcus Bixler.
“If we would have taken care of business 15 feet away from the rim at
the foul line, it’s not a problem. We did what we needed to do to get
by. I told the boys we needed one good run and we got it. We had to
stop them. They were aggressive with the dribble-drive and we had to do
everything to keep them in front of us. We weren’t able to do that the
way we wanted to but we did enough.”
Franklin Monroe led 6-4 after one but trailed 24-22 at the break before
heading into the final eight minutes in a 34-34 tie with the undefeated
Troy Christian Eagles.
Led by Travis Feitshans with 18, the Jets finished the night with three
in double figures as Trey Mong netted 15 and Horner a dozen.
“We do a pretty good job spreading the ball around,” Bixler pointed
out. “We knew we had to get the ball to the block tonight and when we
went on that big run that’s what we did. Our shots came from two feet
away from the rim and that’s what we have to do to get our offense
going.”
Their first year in the tournament, the Eagles made things interesting.
“They (TC) bring a lot to the table,” said Bixler. “We knew they were
going to be good and we knew they were going to compete. They represent
their school district well and we knew they were going to be good. This
is a good group of kids that work and try to do things the right way
and that shines on their coach.”
Bixler and the Jets square off against Tri-Village Tuesday night.
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