A four-hour bus ride, food not arriving on time, and a power outage that led to a delayed start. Franklin men's basketball had every excuse to give in on Saturday afternoon, especially after going into halftime down by double digits.

But the Grizzlies did no such thing — and their long ride home became a lot more enjoyable after a 93-84 double-overtime victory at Knox.

"This had all the makings of a result with built-in excuses," Griz coach Chris Hamilton said. "But excuses get you beat faster than any opponent ever will, and we had guys who had gotten minimal to no minutes this year step up in a big way."

Layups by Zaryen Moore and Braylon Russell kicked off a 10-0 run in the second overtime that put Franklin (3-0) ahead for good at 90-81 and essentially put the game on ice. But the Grizzlies had to overcome plenty of hurdles to set up that closing statement.

Trailing by a 36-26 score after a cold first half, the visitors opened the second with a 3-pointer from Jesse Faires and eventually tied the game up on a Rohan Pearson 3 with 15:58 left in regulation. After Knox went back in front by five, the Grizzlies rallied again, with two free throws and a layup by Justin Harrington putting Hamilton's team ahead by a 52-49 margin with 8:24 to go. Franklin led by seven, 68-61, after two Russell foul shots with 1:58 remaining, but the Prairie Fire responded under pressure, tying the game up with five seconds left to send the game to overtime at 69-69.

Franklin went down by four early in the first extra period but regained the momentum and led 79-77 after a Cooper Matthews 3-pointer with just under a minute to go. Yet again, Knox forced a deadlock with a late bucket, sending the game to a second OT. In that one, though, the home team had no answer for the last Grizzly haymaker.

The Grizzlies leaned on their defense in the biggest moments, overcoming disadvantages in shooting (particularly 20 free-throw misses) and rebounding.

"Shooting may not always travel, and we felt that in the first half," Hamilton said. "But defense does, and the guys continued to take away the 3-point line and force 26 turnovers, including some timely ones. That was the defense we expected to see."

Harrington scored a game-high 23 points off the bench for Franklin, continuing his hot start to the season. He was joined in double digits by Pearson, who finished with 15 points and seven steals, as well as Matthews (13 points) and Faires (10). 

The Grizzlies will try to keep their unbeaten start going on Wednesday (Nov. 19) when they host Wabash at the Spurlock Center. Tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.