Box Score FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Franklin men's basketball team looked to make it nine wins in a row on Wednesday (Jan. 22) night, hosting the Rose-Hulman Engineers to close out round one of Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) play.
The Grizzlies (12-4, 8-1 HCAC) led by double-digits at the half before a furious Engineer (7-9, 4-5 HCAC) rally in the second half tightened things up. But some clutch stops defensively and a huge three from junior Sam Gutierrez late in the game helped propel Franklin to a 68-66 win, keeping the winning streak alive and preserving Franklin's two-game lead atop the HCAC.
"It is extremely hard to beat Rose if you don't shoot the ball well from long range," Head coach Kerry Prather noted after the game. "I couldn't be happier with our guys for finding other ways to score when shots from deep weren't going down. We had some monster defensive stops, grabbed some big rebounds and showed a ton of composure at the end of the game both at the line and on the defensive end."
Each team knocked down shots on four of their first five possessions before the Grizzlies put some distance between the two sides. The Grizzlies rattled off a 14-2 run over a four-minute stretch to take a 20-10 lead with 12 minutes to go in the first half. Rose answered with a 9-3 run before back-to-back threes from Jordan Anderson and Borden Kennedy put Franklin back up by double digits at 31-19 with six minutes left before the intermission.
Each team shot near or at 50% from the floor in the opening half, Franklin committed just two turnovers and knocked down six threes to just two for the Engineers to take a 40-29 lead into the break.
At the beginning of the second half, the Engineers made their push, opening the final 20 minutes with a 17-6 run that erased Franklin's lead and tied the game at 46. Franklin connected on just five field goals in the first 12 minutes of the period and trailed 56-53 with 7:44 to play after a Craig McGee jumper gave Rose their largest lead of the night.
But Franklin would counter-punch by going inside, getting back-to-back layups from Payton Mills with the second resulting in a three-point play that tied the game at 58. Rose re-claimed the lead shortly after and held it into the final 90 seconds, when Sam Gutierrez uncorked a deep three-pointer that put Franklin back in front for good.
It was up to the defense after that and after forcing two Rose misses on the ensuing trip down the floor, Kennedy headed to the line with 28 seconds left looking to extend the lead. The first free throw went down and Mills grabbed a miss on the second to keep possession alive and allow Kennedy to ice the game at the line.
Kennedy led the Grizzlies with 16 points, knocking down five free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the win. Gutierrez and Kale Morris finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Mills turned in his fifth double-double of the year with 13 points and 10 boards while handing out a career-high five assists.
The Grizzlies held the Engineers to 5-for-19 from behind the three-point line and set a new season-low with just eight turnovers.
Franklin opens the second half of conference play on Saturday (Jan. 25), when they head to Richmond, Ind. for a meeting with the Earlham Quakers. Tip-off is set for approximately 3:00 p.m.
