GREENVILLE – The Franklin Monroe Jets hosted the Versailles Tigers in a varsity boys basketball game with the visiting Tigers coming out on top 49-41 in the non-conference game.
“We were able to keep on battling and come through some adversity in the fourth quarter and were able to pull out a victory tonight,” said Versailles coach, Travis Swank. “Proud of our team.”
“I thought our defense was good enough, I thought we got the first shot off the rebound enough,” Franklin Monroe coach, Troy Myers stated. “Our execution in the next four weeks hopefully will be better and put us in a good spot for tournament.”
Versailles took an early 8-2 lead at the halfway point of the opening period and went on to a 13-7 lead after one complete paced by seven AJ Griesdorn points.
“The first quarter was not a good way to start in a one-possession, two possession game,” Myers said. “Our response was good.”
Franklin Monroe battled back with three Eric Brenner second-quarter 3-pointers giving the FM junior four first-half treys to lead the Jets to a 26-25 halftime advantage. Griesdorn tallied eight points for the visiting Tigers.
Franklin Monroe’s continued defensive pressure limited Versailles to seven third-quarter points while the Jets’ offense was adding nine points in the scoring column sending the teams to the final quarter of play with FM holding a three-point 35-32 lead.
Versailles’ Gabe White drained a 3-pointer at 7:07 in the fourth to knot the score at 35-35 before the score would bounce back and forth with the game tied at 37-37 and 39-39.
“Really big – came off the bench a little cold and had the confidence to step up and hit it for us,” Swank said of White’s game-tying three.
Franklin Monroe went back up 41-40 with 1:58 on the clock in what would prove to be the Jets’ final points of the night with 6’5” Carson Heitkamp knocking down a Tigers’ triple giving the Versailles a 43-41 lead. A Griesdorn bucket in the paint and a free throw sealed the eight-point win for the Versailles Tigers. Griesdorn led Versailles with six fourth-quarter points.
“He does a good job, he’s strong,” Coach Swank said of his senior forward, AJ Griesdorn. “He is doing a heck of a job in the post for us right now.”
“Everybody contributed tonight that played,” added Coach Swank. “We’ll take it, I know it wasn’t the prettiest game but we came into a hostile environment and did what we needed to do to get a victory.”
“Our execution and response down the stretch was not very good,” Coach Myers said. “It has to be a learning experience for us and hopefully grow.”
AJ Griesdorn led Versailles and all scorers with a game-high 23 points.
BOXSCORE:
VERSAILLES – AJ Griesdorn 23, C. Heitkamp 10, E. Wilker 5, D. Ahrens 5, J. Watren 3, G. White 3 – TOTALS 14 9-15 4 49
FRANKLIN MONROE – E. Brenner 12, EB Fall 12, T. Wilson 8, G. Wackler 7, L. Brenner 2 – TOTALS 11 4-4 5 41
3-POINTERS
Versailles 4 (C. Heitkamp 2, J. Watren 1, G. White 1)
Franklin Monroe 5 (E. Brenner 4, G. Wackler 1)
SCORE by QUARTERS
13-12-07-17 49 Versailles
07-19-09-06 41 Franklin Monroe
