For the first half on Wednesday night, Franklin men's basketball stood toe to toe with a larger Transylvania team that entered the night tied for first in the HCAC standings.

The Pioneers opened the second half with a back-breaking surge, however, and the Grizzlies were unable to recover in an 83-68 defeat.

A 3-pointer by Cooper Matthews gave Franklin (13-10, 9-7) a 13-12 lead at the 10:28 mark of the first half before Transy used a 13-2 run to pull ahead for good. The Grizzlies fell behind by 11 before consecutive 3s from Justin Harrington and LeBron Bennie-Powell helped trim the deficit to 40-34 by halftime.

Transylvania came out of the break with a flurry, getting two 3-pointers and a dunk in the first 1:44 to force a Griz timeout. By the 15-minute mark, Franklin was in a 59-39 hole that it was unable to recover from.

Franklin shot a respectable 43.9% (25 for 57) from the field and knocked down 9 of 23 from deep but couldn't keep pace with the Pioneers, who were an efficient 30 of 56 (53.6%) overall and hit 12 of their 27 3-point tries.

Matthews scored 21 points and Harrington 12 for the Grizzlies, followed by Dylan Beverly with nine, Bennie-Powell with eight, Will Spellman with seven and Jesse Faires with six. Faires added four assists and matched Matthews and Harrington with three steals.

The Grizzlies continue a three-game homestand on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 14, 1 p.m.) with a Senior Day clash against rival Hanover.