FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Franklin men's basketball team had their sights set on their third straight win on Saturday (Jan. 23), when they welcome the Defiance Yellow Jackets to the Spurlock Center to finish off a weekend home-and-home.

The Grizzlies (3-3) surged out to a huge lead early on, opening the game with a 23-4 run. But the Yellow Jackets (0-4) showed plenty of fight as the game went on, closing the gap to single digits in the second half. But some clutch shooting and critical stops late by the Grizzlies preserved an 86-77 win, moving Franklin to .500 on the young season.

The Grizzlies wasted no time picking up where they left off the night before, putting the Yellow Jackets in a nearly 20-point hole in the game's opening 10 minutes. Defiance netted the game's first bucket, but would soon go quiet as Franklin scored 19 straight points, the final coming courtesy of a Ty Wright triple with 10:41 to go in the half.

Franklin's lead wouldn't dip back into single digits for the rest of the first half, with the hosts shooting 47.1% from the floor and holding a 24-13 edge in the rebounding battle to take a 44-29 lead into the intermission.

An 8-2 run to start the second half gave Franklin their largest lead of the night at 52-31, but the Yellow Jackets would begin to chip away at the lead shortly afterwards. With 12:32 to go in the game, Defiance had cut the lead all the way down to 10 points at 57-47 as the home side struggled to knock down shots and build on their lead.

With five minutes to go, the lead was down to six before back-to-back layups from Payton Mills and Ismail Jones stopped the Defiance rally in its tracks and got the lead back up to 10 with 2:45 to play. That gave the Grizzlies more than enough cushion to hold off any further comeback attempt.

Danny Goggans had a huge game off the bench for the Grizzlies, pouring in a team-high 19 points on 7-for-11 shooting while grabbing seven rebounds. Mills was a force for the Grizzlies at both ends, finishing with 14 points and 15 rebounds to give his double-doubles in all six games to start the year. Matt Krause also added 14 points and Jones set a new career-high with 13 points. Freshman Nathan Webb came off the bench to add nine points, setting his own career high total.

Franklin shot 46.2% (30-for-65) from the floor and went 22-for-30 at the free throw line. The Grizzlies controlled the game down low, holding a 46-34 edge on the glass and pouring in 46 points in the paint.

Next up for the Grizzlies is their second and final trip to Hanover next Thursday (Jan. 28) night for a rematch against the Hanover Panthers. Tip-off from Collier Arena is set for 7:00 p.m.