Cubs get win in thriller

Franklin survived a late Greenwood rally to score a 63-61 win against the visiting Woodmen in overtime Friday night.

Franklin couldn’t have picked a better time to get it’s first win of the year, but probably could have done it sooner. However the Cubs, while frittering away a five-point lead late in the fourth quarter, showed enough composure to get the victory.

“We made a bunch of awesome plays and some that were not so awesome,” Franklin coach Brad Dickey said. “After not doing it (composure) so well, we did do it, especially at the right time.”

Composure is something any coach wants in overtime, and Franklin showed it after going down early in the extra frame.

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Franklin didn’t appear to show it at first, missing three 3-point attempts, but the fourth one from junior guard Cory Richards found its mark and that was the spark that lifted the Cubs at the right moment.

Prior to overtime, it appeared that Franklin was going to get its first win the easy way. In four quarters and by a comfortable margin.

The Cubs held the Woodmen to six points in the second quarter and 16 in the first half.

The problem was that Franklin couldn’t seem to string together a long succession of points, which kept the Woodmen in the game.

An 11-point third-quarter lead, 37-28, looked mighty good. The Woodmen came alive in the fourth quarter after seemingly wanting to be more preoccupied to pass the ball rather than shooting.

Greenwood passed up several good shots to find the perfect shot. Of course, the Cubs zone defense was a big contributing factor in that.

“We were engaged and always tried to stay connected,” Dickey said.

Towards the last two minutes of regulation, Franklin held either a one, two- or three-point lead, never surrendering the lead at any point.

But a three-point basket by senior Eric Moenkhaus with 10.6 seconds left sealed the deal for overtime, especially when Franklin couldn’t get off a decent shot to end the game.

Greenwood then took the lead in overtime, but that’s when the Cubs grew up.

Richards’ 3 and baskets by Reece Thomson and Blaine Wentzel helped immensely along with three free throws by the two.

Richards led all scorers with 17 points. Wentzel had 15 and Thomson added 12. Greenwood (1-1) was led by Max Raker with 16 points.

Braydon Kincaid added 14 before fouling out and Moenkhaus came off the bench for 14 points.