Franklin-Simpson Wildcats defeated the Logan County Cougars 58-40 in the opening round of the 13th District Boys’ Basketball Tournament last Monday night at Todd County Central High School.
With the win, Franklin-Simpson has an opportunity to three-peat as 13th District Tournament champions but most importantly, they will be one of eight teams in the prestigious 4th Region Boys’ Basketball Tournament at E.A. Diddle Arena on the campus of Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.
“It’s tournament time and you never know what’s going to happen. Teams can come out and shock the world so we were just making sure that doesn’t happen to us,” Gabe Jones said. “Getting to the region tournament is one of our goals but that is later. We’re focused on winning the district.”
“I have personally been in the situation as a four seed in this tournament against a one seed and have won that game twice,” Wildcats’ head coach Dee Spencer said. ”We’ve talked about this for the past two weeks about the first game of the district and the guys came out and responded. It’s a tough game but they did everything we asked.”
Jalen Briscoe scored a team high of six points for the Wildcats with Kamron Ray draining a 3-pointer with DeMarcus Hogan, who got a breakaway two handed slam dunk, and Gabe Jones each scoring a basket as Franklin-Simpson led 13-7 at the end of the first.
The Wildcats extended their lead in the 2nd Quarter as Briscoe had another big quarter as he scored nine points which included a steal with a one handed slam dunk. Jones made the only 3-pointer in the quarter with a basket from Hogan as Franklin-Simpson led 27-17 at halftime..
The Wildcats’ defense clamped down on the Cougars as they were held to just four points in the quarter. They reeled off 12 points in a row with a 3-pointer from Sam Mylor along with gout points from Hogan, three from Briscoe and two from O.J. Gamble. Late in the period, Kamryn Ray along with Hogan and Jones scored six straight points for a 45-22 lead at the end of three.
After Jones scored four quick points to open the 4th Quarter, the young Wildcats got to see some action. Blake McPherson scored three points with Trey Green and Nolan martin each scoring two points as Franklin-Simpson advanced to the 13th District tournament’s championship game with their 58-40 victory over Logan County.
“Winning this game is important and getting to the region is one of our goals,” Spencer said. “But we’re not satisfied. We want to make sure that we take care of business on Friday.”
Jalen Briscoe led all scorers with a game high of 18 points with 11 points from Gabe Jones and 10 from DeMarcus Hogan for the Wildcats.
“Our intensity was great,” Jalen Briscoe said. “We were able to get up and down the court. We pushed the ball and that’s how we were able to score points/ and that made things a whole lot easier for us. Now is the time to be stingy. We want it all on Friday night”
Jack Delaney and Kade Wall led the Cougars with nine points each.
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