The Beavers were led out of the gates by sophomore BRENT FARLEY (Lima/Shawnee) who blocked Franklin's first shot of the game, and turned around to score at the other end for the first two points of the night. The Grizzlies responded with a CLAY STARRETT three-pointer. The teams stayed even as a JOSH EICHAR (North Baltimore) layup tied the game (8-8) at the 15:22 mark.

 

The teams then traded three-pointers as a MYCHAL HILL (London/Jon. Alder) triple knotted the game again at 14-14 with 13 minutes left in the half. The Grizzlies then pulled ahead by six with just under 10 minutes remaining in the half. NICK LEE (Mt. Blanchard/Vanlue) slowed the run with a three-pointer to pull the Beavers back within a score as the Beavers trailed 24-21 at the 8:16 mark.

 

Hill hit another deep ball to make the score 26-24 Franklin with 5:32 left in the half. The teams traded points over the next five minutes, but the Grizzlies added two at the end of the half to give them a five-point advantage (34-29) at the break.

 

Lee opened the second period with a layup on the first possession. The Beavers then hit a dry spell, as Franklin took a 41-31 lead just three minutes into the half. TYLER BRAIDIC (Pandora-Gilboa) knocked down a trifecta and Hill followed with two three-pointers to pull the Beavers back within two at the 11:20 mark.

 

A ROB LUDERMAN (Defiance/Ayersville) hoop and harm brought the Beavers within one, 49-48, with 10 minutes left to play. The teams both went dry for the next two minutes before two consecutive Franklin jumpers put the Grizzlies up 53-48 at the seven-minute mark.

 

The Beavers took their first lead of the half on a Farley jumper, as they went up 57-55 with four minutes of play remaining. Eichar followed the jumper with a free throw to put the Beavers up by three.

 

Franklin answered with two straight scores to give the lead back to the Grizzlies (59-58) with 1:53 left in the game. Farley added a free throw to tie the game back up, but WILL CONOLEYknocked down a jumper to give the home team a two-point lead with 1:20 left in the game. Bluffton was forced to foul and ZACH MERSCHBROCK hits one of the two free throws for the final 62-59 margin.

 

Hill paced the Beavers with 17 as he went 5-of-7 from three-point land. Farley chipped in with 14 points, seven rebounds and a team-high four assists. Next in the scoring column was Lee with 10 markers, followed by Eichar with seven points and seven rebounds. The Beavers finished the game shooting 23-of-56 (41.1 percent) from the field, 9-of-14 (64.3 percent) from behind the arc and 4-of-8 (50.0 percent) at the line.

 

The Grizzlies were paced by four starters in double figures. GUNNER ERWIN led the team with 17, Conoley hit 14, Starrett added 13 and Merschbrock tallied 10. The Grizzlies ended the night hitting 24-of-43 (55.8 percent) from the field, 4-of-8 (50.0 percent) from behind the arc and 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from the charity stripe.

 

 

The Beavers will be back in action this Wednesday, February 3, when they travel to Anderson for a meeting with the HCAC-leading Ravens. The game is slated to start at 7:30 p.m.