“We went back to the half-court defense and went man-to-man,” Franklin coach Brian Bales said. “We tried to go full court and speed up the tempo in the first half, but they did a pretty good job getting good looks at our press.”
Franklin is known as a team with a roster of three-point shooters, but Saturday the Wildcats fed the ball inside to junior Braden Hall. He had 10 of his 19 points in the third quarter, and went 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
“We thought we had an advantage going inside to Braden Hall and he has become a very nice player for us,” Bales said. “We are usually a team that drives and passes out, but the team said let’s go into Braden and he had a very nice third quarter for us. He is a great free throw shooter.”
The Wildcats finished 13 of 15 from the free throw line.
Jared Kinzer equaled teammate Hall with 19 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds. Zach Minton added 10 points and Payton Knott dished out seven assists.
“Our opponents know we are a three-point shooting team, so they are making us drive and Jared (Kinzer) was great getting the ball to the basket,” Bales said. “Both Jared (Kinzer) and Braden (Hall) were electric for us tonight.”
Franklin won its fifth straight game to improve to 11-1 and 6-0 in the SWBL Southwestern.
A.J. Denlinger scored 16 points to pace Brookville (8-5, 4-2).
The Blue Devils struggled to score, shooting 27.3 percent (12-of-44). Take away Denlinger’s 6-of-12 shooting night, and the rest of the Blue Devils hit just 6 of 32 attempts.
“This the toughest team in the league and has been for the last six to seven years,” Brookville coach Jeff Davidson said. “The environment is always electric, and fans are loud cheering for their team.”
Franklin travels to Belmont on Tuesday. Brookville hosts Oakwood on Friday.
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