NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – The Franklin men's basketball team brought the regular season to a close on Wednesday (Feb. 19) night, taking on the Manchester Spartans.
 
The Grizzlies (18-7, 14-4 HCAC) got a career-high 24 points from Cooper Matthews and had five players finish the night in double figures. But the Spartans (10-15, 5-13 HCAC) spoiled Franklin's bid to claim a conference championship, rallying to win 83-78.
 
How it Happened
The opening 20 minutes was all Grizzlies, as they went 17-for-27 from the field and held Manchester to 8-for-26 shooting in the first half. Matthews dropped a team-leading 15 points in the first half, and Franklin held a 41-23 lead when the teams went off to the locker room.
 
The lead stayed in double figures until the final nine minutes, with Manchester using a dominant shooting performance to claw back into the game and take the lead for good with two minutes to play.
 
Inside the Box Score
-All five Franklin starters finished the game in double figures.
-Cody Samples had 16 points, Lynn King had 15 and Jessie Morgan III and Braden Flanagan each had 10 points.
-The second half saw Manchester go 16-for-24 from the field and 24-for-30 from the free throw line.
-King grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
-Flanagan and Morgan each dished out four assists.
 
Up Next
Franklin will enter the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament as the second-seed and will host seventh-seeded Berea on Saturday (Feb. 22) afternoon at 4:00 p.m.