By George Starks |
Pitsburg-On paper, it was supposed to be a close, tooth and nail last team to score type of a basketball game.
However, the game’s not played on paper..
It’s played on the hardwood.
Both Franklin Monroe and Bradford came in with identical records but someone forgot to tell the Railroaders that.
Franklin Monroe jumped out to a 15-7 first quarter lead and never looked back, dropping a 55-38 loss on Bradford in a key Wester Ohio Athletic Conference battle.
Coming off a nail biting loss in the Jet Tournament a week ago, Franklin Monroe coach Troy Myers was glad to be back on the smiling side of the scoreboard.
“I’m happy with the kids and it felt good to get the win,” said Meyers. “If there’s one thing we need to take away from this is the fact that we need to learn to close a game out. You can look at a lot of different factors and we didn’t close that game out very well at all. This will be a learning opportunity for us.”
By the end of the first half, the Jets held a 27-18 lead and it was junior Owen Canan that kept the Railroaders in the game scoring 16 of the Roaders 18 points.
Despite holding Canan to only two points in the second half, Bradford had the rest of the team pick up the slack but it wasn’t enough as the Jets held a 42-32 advantage after three quarters of play.
“We did a lot of things right in the first half,” admitted Myers. “We had to keep Canan in front of us. He’s a rough customer and I know he works hard at his game and I have a lot of respect for him. Thankfully, we were able to slow him down in the second half,. We were able to keep him in check and that was the difference in the game.”
With FM sharpshooter Eric Brenner in foul trouble, junior EB Fall picked up the slack, finishing the night with 19 points, 11 rebounds and a handful of assists.
On the flipside of the ledger. Bradford coach Alex Swabb was very disappointed with his kids.
“I’ve talked about tone and setting the pace and I’ve talked about that in the past,” said Swabb. “We didn’t do that. We played their game not ours. We didn’t match their effort or their intensity. The better team won tonight. When we did get some stops and we did get some buckets, we’d give them right back.”
The Franklin Monroe junior varsity posted a 44-24 victory.
Photos by George Starks. Left: Franklin Monroe junior EB Fall hits fir two of his game high 19 points against Bradford. Right: Senior Dalton Winterrowd is caught on the baseline by a Bradford player