Just a week and a half ago, Franklin men's basketball was no match for HCAC-leading Rose-Hulman, taking a 26-point defeat. Wednesday night's rematch was far more dramatic — and rewarding.

Cooper Matthews, just 4 of 9 from the foul line prior, sank a pair with 9.5 seconds remaining to lift the Grizzlies to a 64-63 road win over the Engineers.

"It's not easy to handle a result like we had 10 days ago," Franklin coach Chris Hamilton said. "But this team made the choice to respond with grit and resilience, and tonight, a figure-it-out mentality to win a great road win."

With the score tied at 60-60 in the final minute, the Grizzlies (12-7, 8-4) took advantage of a Jesse Faires offensive rebound late in the shot clock, with Will Spellman eventually scoring on a putback layup with 35 seconds to go. Rose got a 3-pointer at the other end to go up one with 20 seconds left, but Matthews drove the lane and was fouled going up, earning the decisive free throws.

Following the two makes, Matthews forced the Engineers' Joey Schmitz into a contested 3 that rimmed out at the buzzer, sealing the Griz victory.

Franklin stormed out of the gate, getting two baskets each from Matthews and Dylan Beverly as well as a Rohan Pearson 3-pointer on the way to an early 11-2 advantage. That lead grew as large as 14 points at 22-8, but Rose-Hulman was able to trim that deficit in half by the intermission, going into the break down 32-25.

Back-to-back hoops from Matthews restored the double-digit Griz cushion at 40-29 with 15:22 left in the game, and the visitors were still up 53-43 after a Beverly dunk with 7:50 to go, but the Engineers scored the next seven points to get within three before eventually tying the game up on a Schmitz bucket with 1:30 remaining. Faires then kept the next Franklin possession alive with one of his team's seven offensive rebounds, and the Grizzlies finished the job from there.

Matthews finished with a game-high 22 points in the win; Justin Harrington was the only other Franklin player in double figures with 11. Beverly contributed three blocked shots and two steals to the team's defensive effort.

"Defensively we set the tone early," Hamilton said, "and offensively in the second half our players did a phenomenal job executing all of the details necessary to win the possessions required to win the game."

Now just one game behind Rose and Mount St. Joseph in the league standings, Franklin will host Bluffton on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 31, 4 p.m.)