Franklin nabs top HCAC spot

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By Bryan Ault, February 12, 2009

“Everybody stepped up.  [We got] contributions from everybody.  We didn’t back down,” head coach Kerry Prather said after the game. 

 

“It was a great win for us.  We worked really hard preparing for it, and we knew what we had to do,” said John Yochum. 

 

The first half was marked with high emotions and momentum shifts.  Franklin began the game down by five points, but two free throws by Jared Catron and a deep three from Dustin Marshall tied the game at five.  Transylvania pulled another five point lead, but the Grizzlies responded with a layup from Will Conoley and a tip-in by Zach Merschbrock to tie the game at 16.  The Pioneers would not lead again for the rest of the game. 

 

“I told the guys that you need to play well, but you also need to make some big plays, and we did both,” said Prather.

 

Free throws from Conoley gave the Grizzlies their first lead of the night with eight minutes to play in the first half.  A layup from Merschbrock gave Franklin a seven point lead with 2:23 to play in the first half.  Transylvania came back to tie the game at 38 with a deep three-pointer from Chris Owens with two minutes to play.  Two free throws from Clayton Starrett gave Franklin the lead again. 

 

With two seconds remaining in the half, John Yochum’s two-point bucket off of an assist from Jeff Gasser as time expired sent the Spurlock Center into pandemonium and extended the Franklin lead to four. 

 

“It was a great play by Jeff (Gasser) to steal the ball.  It was good to hit a last-second shot.  I had never done that before,” said Yochum. 

 

“[We kept] great poise with the lead.  We made big plays at critical times to get that lead, and hold them at bay.  We did a really mature job of handling the ball.” Prather said. 

 

A basket by Redman kicked off the second half.  Free throws from a technical foul on the Transylvania bench gave the Grizzlies a 50-41 lead with 18 minutes to play.  The largest lead Franklin had was 15 off of a Starrett three point shot with 13:09 to play.  The Pioneers pulled the game to within six points with two minutes remaining, but four straight free throws by Marshall and a dunk from Conoley sealed the game. 

 

“We were really excited to play tonight.  It was a great crowd and a great atmosphere to play in,” said Redman.

 

Franklin shot 61.2 percent from the floor and 73 percent from the free throw line. 

Marshall led Franklin with 19 points.  Conoley, Redman, and Gasser each scored 13.  Franklin’s bench scored 20 points in the first half alone.

 

“Gasser gave us a great game.  He struggled, and I am happy for him.  He came in and just gave us a huge lift,” said Prather. 

 

“It’s time to pull all of this together.  I’ve been joking with the guys that this is ‘February Madness.’  It’s our version of March Madness,” said Prather.

 

The Grizzlies, winners of six straight and in command of the top spot in the HCAC, will face the College of Mount St. Joseph on the road this Saturday.