Midweek games, especially on the road, had been kind to Franklin men's basketball of late.

Alas, all good things must end at some point, and the Grizzlies' five-Wednesday win streak came to an end in a 69-65 heartbreaker at Mount St. Joseph.

Franklin (13-8, 9-5 HCAC) led for most of the first half, building a 28-19 advantage on consecutive Dylan Beverly buckets and stretching it to double digits, 35-24, on a LeBron Bennie-Powell 3-pointer with 1:08 to go before the intermission. MSJ, though, cut the deficit to six before the buzzer and then opened the second half with two straight 3s to tie the game. Two more Lion hoops extended the run to 15-0 and put the Griz in a 39-35 hole with 16 minutes to play.

Two Cooper Matthews foul shots with 11:41 left pulled the Grizzlies even at 43-43, but MSJ put together a 14-4 surge to go back up by 10 at the 6:24 mark. Franklin got back to within 66-62 on a Bennie-Powell 3 with 10 seconds to go, then responded to two Lion free throws with a Justin Harrington three-point play seven seconds later, but the home team was able to answer with a free throw to ice it.

The Grizzlies shot a slightly higher percentage from the field (38.6% to 36.8%) and only committed six turnovers, but the Lions were a bit sharper from deep, hitting nine of 20 while Franklin made 7 of 23.

Matthews paced a balanced Griz lineup with 15 points, while Beverly and Bennie-Powell joined him in double digits with 11 apiece. Harrington added seven points off the bench, with Will Spellman and Nate Wilson adding six apiece; Connor McNabb did not score but grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds.

Franklin will be back in action Saturday afternoon (Feb. 7, 3 p.m.) at Berea.