PITSBURG – The Franklin Monroe Jets earned a 67-36 Homecoming night WOAC win over the visiting Tri-County North Panthers.
North jumped out to 5-1 and 7-3 leads in the opening minutes of the Friday night home conference game with the Jets battling back to close out the opening period with 12 unanswered points to lead 15-7 win one quarter in the book.
“We just got a slow start and they responded well the second part of the first quarter,” said Franklin Monroe coach, Troy Myers. “We had a decent lead at the quarter-break.”
“We had to figure out how to play a game, that’s what gives me anxiety,” Myers said of the pregame Homecoming ceremonies. “Can we come off the floor after taking 427 pictures and then figure out how to play a basketball game – and we did.”
Franklin Monroe stretched its lead to 34-12 taking period No. 2 by a 10-5 score sending the teams to the break with the Jets holding a commanding 34-12 advantage.
“I am thankful the guys responded and fought the early adversity that we did,” Myers stated.
The visiting Panthers had its best quarter of the evening in the third with 14 points only to fall two points farther behind with FM adding 16 points to the board to lead 50-26 win one quarter to play.
The Jets put the game away in the fourth with Eric Brenner hitting three of his four 3-pointers on the night taking the final period 17-10 to earn the conference win.
“We have to do certain things extremely well to compete at a high level with good teams,” said Coach Myers. “We’ve seen that work at times and we’ve seen it not work at times.”
“North is struggling and it’s no secret but I give their people a lot of credit,” Myers added.
Eric Brenner led Franklin Monroe and all scorers with a game-high 19 points.
With the win Franklin Monroe improves to 9-3 overall and 5-1 in conference play. North drops to 1-10 overall and 0-6 in the WOAC.
BOXSCORE:
FRANKLIN MONROE – E. Brenner 19, T. Riffle 11, G. Wackler 9, EB Fall 6, L. Brenner 6, T. Wilson 5, B. Denlinger 5, K. Boyd 4, B. Filbrun 2 – TOTALS 14 18-24 7 67
TRI-COUNTY NORTH – L. Flory 11, P. Overcash 9, C. Barnes 4, P. Fannin 4, T. Williamson 3, B. Dawson 2 – TOTALS 11 2-4 4 36
3-POINTERS
Franklin Monroe 7 (E. Brenner 4, G. Wackler 2, K. Boyd 1)
Tri-County North 4 (P. Overcash 3, T. Williamson 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
15-19-16-17 67 Franklin Monroe
07-05-14-10 36 Tri-County North
