Jets survive Dixie scare, remain undefeated

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Franklin Monroe senior, Eric Brenner

PITSBURG – After opening the season with six straight wins, the closest of which was a 22-point victory over Calvary Christian, Franklin-Monroe proved it could win a close game also, remaining atop the WOAC standings with a hard-fought 43-41 win over the Dixie Greyhounds at the Hangar in  Pitsburg Friday night. The Jets and ‘Hounds both played hard-nosed, aggressive defense that limited open looks at the basket for both teams most of the contest.  

F-M jumped out to a quick 12-2 lead early as Eric Brenner and EB Fall each tallied six points on the way to a 17-8 advantage at the end of one quarter. The Greyhounds played the  Jets evenly in the second quarter as they switched for a brief time to a 2-3 zone that allowed F M only six shot attempts. Dixie’s senior guard Luke Miller countered with ten of his team’s first fifteen points as they stayed in the game to trail 27-18 at the half. Brenner had 14 to pace the home team as F-M connected on six straight foul shots to maintain a comfortable nine-point lead. 

The second half saw the home team expand the biggest lead of the game to 29-18 before  Dixie put the clamps on defensively. Junior guard Keegan Stevenson hounded Brenner throughout the second half, allowing the senior only two shots in half-court situations the entire second half. At the other end of the court, Dixie started going inside more after hitting only four of twelve three-point attempts in the first half, getting as close as 36-31 late in the third quarter.  

With F-M leading 38-32 at the 7:07 mark in the fourth quarter, Dixie senior Trevor Huffman stroked in consecutive triples from long range to tie the game for the first time with 4:20  remaining in regulation. The Jets started to force a few shots in the final quarter but were able to get to the foul line as they took only ten shots in the second half that didn’t result in free throws.  

Trey Wilson made one of two foul shots with 4:10 showing on the clock to put the Jets up for good at 39-38, but the rest of the game had fans from both teams biting their nails as scoring opportunities were missed. Fall converted one of two free throws to give the Jets a  42-38 lead with 1:40 left before Dixie’s Nate Emrick, who played a great floor game, scored on a drive to cut the margin to 42-40 with 1:15 remaining. 

With 38 seconds left, sophomore Blake Riffle made one of two from the charity stripe to put the Jets up 43-40. After a Dixie timeout, F-M’s Brenner was called for an intentional foul with  6.2 seconds remaining, sending the ‘Hounds Dillon Phillips to the line where he made one of two, cutting the lead to 43-41. Retaining possession, Dixie had two close-in shots, both missed as time expired, and the Jets escaped what was a dogfight the entire night.  

In advancing to 4-0 in league play (7-0 overall), the Jets were paced in scoring by Brenner with 16 points and Fall with 11. Unofficially, F-M was 12 of 27 from the floor and 4 of 12 from beyond the arc while making 15 of 19 from the foul line. Dixie fell to 1-3 in WOAC action (3-4  overall) and was led by Luke Miller with 16 and Huffman with 8. The Greyhounds were 13 of 42  from the field, 6 for 18 from three-point land, and hit 9 of 15 foul shots.  

The Jets hope for the return of starting guard Lucas Brenner sometime in the near future, as his absence was felt. The junior missed his second game following an ankle injury and will be re-evaluated Monday. Meanwhile, the Jets remain at home to take on Fairlawn Saturday night,  

the 21st. Dixie has a week off before hosting their own Holiday Tournament on the 27th and  28th. Both teams resume WOAC play on Friday, January 3rd.