ANDERSON, Ind. – It was a moment that the Franklin men's basketball team rehearsed for on their first day of practice in October. On Saturday (Mar. 1) afternoon, and the Grizzlies saw their vision come become reality and got to enjoy One Shining Moment of their own.
For the seventh time in program history and the third time in the last five years, Franklin has laid claim to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament championship after knocking off top-seeded Anderson 72-66. The Grizzlies (21-7) overcame some first half foul trouble and a hostile home crowd to beat a Ravens (22-6) team that swept them during the regular season and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022.
Senior
Braden Flanagan earned HCAC Tournament MVP honors after leading the Grizzlies with 17 points and was joined on the all-tournament team by
Cooper Matthews after his 14-point night.
How it Happened
Feeding off of their home crowd, the Ravens raced out to an 11-2 lead in the game's opening three minutes. Franklin countered with an 11-2 run of their own, getting back to even at 13-13 when
Lynn King sank a three with 13:45 to go in the opening half. The Grizzlies would force four more ties before the break, but couldn't find a go-ahead bucket and Anderson used a late first half surge to take a 39-32 edge into the break.
The halftime break proved to be just what the Grizzlies needed, as Franklin opened the second half with an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the afternoon at 40-39. That set the stage for a back-and-forth second half that saw nine total lead changes and neither side leading by more than four points until late. With 3:55 to go in the game, a fast break layup from
Cody Samples put Franklin in front 58-57 and give the Grizzlies a lead they would hold the rest of the way.
A fast-break dunk from Matthews with 1:41 to play gave Franklin a 65-59 lead, their largest of the night to that point. The Grizzlies would knock down seven of eight free throws to finish off the game, the final coming from King in with two seconds to go ahead of a massive post-game celebration with players and the Franklin faithful in attendance.
Inside the Box Score
-Both teams struggled shooting the ball, with Franklin knocking down 39.7% (23-for-58) of their shots while the Griz defense limited Anderson to 33.3% (20-for-60) from the field.
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Lynn King finished with 13 points and pulled down eight boards.
-Samples added 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.
-Rebounds were 44-37 in Franklin's favor, with
Jessie Morgan III grabbing a team-high 10 boards.
Griz Bites
Head Coach Chris Hamilton
On claiming a conference championship
"Culture wins and our guys have been saying that since the start of the season. On the first day of practice, we started by cutting down the net and playing "One Shining Moment" to give these guys the visual of winning a title. There are a lot of reasons why it would have been tough to make that comeback after halftime, but our guys had a great mentality in the locker room and they made it happen. I'm blessed to be a part of the success of this program and we are looking forward to the next chapter."
Senior guard Cody Samples
On winning his second HCAC title
"The first one was really special but this one is just incredible. This one was done by a brotherhood. We trusted each other and knew we could all make a big play when we needed. We've been working hard together from August until now and we knew that we could out-work anyone on the floor."
Up Next
Franklin will learn their NCAA Tournament opponent on Monday (Mar. 3), when the Division III field is announced. The selection show will begin at noon and be streamed live on NCAA.com.
