Grizzlies fall short at Earlham

RICHMOND

Earlham College made a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to narrowly defeat the Franklin College men’s basketball team, 84-83, in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play Saturday.

Earlham led 80-79 after a three-point play from Taylen Alexander with 2:08 left. Two free throws by junior Trae Washington gave the visitors an 81-80 advantage at the 1:51 mark.

The Quakers regained the lead following a layup by Lajay Kelly on their next possession. Freshman Jim Mace converted a layup after getting an offensive rebound to give Franklin an 83-82 lead with 1:08 left.

Following a timeout with 15 seconds left, the hosts missed a layup in the final seconds. However, Joe Adams grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. He connected on both free throws to give Earlham an 84-83 lead.

Franklin was unable to get a shot off before the final buzzer.

Sophomore Aaron Mann led five double-figure scorers with 15 points. Classmate John Beineke scored 14 points and had eight rebounds off the bench.

Sophomore Trey Boles had a career-high 11 points. Washington chipped in 11 points and eight assists, while sophomore Robbie Prather added 10 points.

Alexander scored a game-high 23 points for the Quakers. Adams added 16 points, while Kelly scored 13 points.

Franklin took a 44-38 lead after two free throws by sophomore Brandon Scruggs with 1:25 left in the first half. The Grizzlies led 47-44 after the opening 20 minutes.

Earlham opened the second half on a 10-0 run and led by a game-high seven points, 54-47, four minutes into the period. Franklin responded with nine consecutive points to take a 56-54 lead following a 3-pointer by Prather at the 13:48 mark.

A jumper by Boles gave the visitors a 66-60 advantage midway through the second half. The two teams exchanged leads during the final minutes.

Franklin College returns to action Wednesday when it travels to Rose-Hulman.