Panthers Claw Past Attleboro With Strong Finish

 
 
 ATTLEBORO, Mass. — For three and a half quarters, Attleboro controlled the tempo of the game and had visiting Franklin right where they wanted them.

The Bombardiers slowed the game down in an effort to limit how many possessions the Panthers had, and it was working as sophomore Hayden Crowley’s third three-pointer of the game had Attleboro up 30-25 with just six minutes to go.

But in crunch time, Franklin junior Sean O’Leary showed why he’s been the best player in the Hockomock League this season.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

The Panthers rattled off a 12-0 run in a three-minute span, and O’Leary was directly involved in each bucket. He had a pair of traditional three-point plays, assisted on a three from senior Justin Allen after Attleboro brought a double team, and then drained a corner three off a tremendous effort play from senior Ben Harvey for a 37-30 lead.

Attleboro made a final push as Justin Hanrahan scored back-to-back buckets off turnovers and Michael Beverly scored down low with a minute to go to cut the deficit to just one.

Franklin quickly got the ball back to O’Leary (17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists) in the post, and when the Bombardiers brought help, he quickly found Allen (12 points) wide open and the senior sank his fourth triple of the game to clinch a 41-36 win.

“Going into the fourth, it was tied so we just said we have to beat them in an eight-minute game,” said Franklin head coach CJ Neely. “We had to forget about the first three quarters and just win that one. It didn’t have to be pretty, just wanted to get the win and that’s what happened.

“The two biggest plays were the Harvey save to O’Leary for three, and then O’Leary finding Allen for the open three with under a minute to go. We know Sean is going to get a lot of attention, and we still need to get him the ball more. I thought when things weren’t going our way, we weren’t getting him the ball. And if teams want to double him, we have the shooting to punish teams.”

For almost the entire first half and the majority of the second, Attleboro used at least 25 seconds of the shot clock before looking for a shot. And the Bombardiers only allowed three offensive rebounds to the Panthers, who have torched opponents this season with their high-tempo offense.

“We did a pretty good job of running some clock on offense and trying to get some good shots,” said Attleboro head coach Mark Houle. “I thought there were a couple we left out there in both halves. We wanted to limit their possessions and I think we did a pretty decent job at that. They sped us up at the end and got some turnovers, which ended up being a big factor.

“We wanted to control the tempo. We sacrificed some chances at offensive rebounding because we wanted to get back on defense. We probably had some slips that we didn’t hit early and then we had too many turnovers. When you limit how many possessions you have, you can’t have those turnovers and that hurt us.”

The Bombardiers made their intent known early as they only had nine field goal attempts in the first eight minutes, including one second-chance bucket. On the flip side, Franklin only had 10 chances from the floor, including a pair of second-chance points.

The result was an 8-6 lead for the Panthers, and not much changed over the next eight minutes. Franklin was once again limited to eight shots from the floor. While Attleboro controlled the tempo, they couldn’t find a rhythm either as they went without a three-pointer in the first two quarters.

Allen had a steal and a layup midway through the quarter but the Panthers would only score once more (a layup from Bradley Herndon) over the final four minutes, while the Bombardiers closed the gap with a strong take from Neo Franco (10 points, 6 rebounds), a three-point play from freshman Connor Houle, and another tough take from Franco to get with 17-13 at the break.

“Credit to Attleboro, they had a gameplan of slowing us down for as long as possible and stick around, and they certainly did,” Neely said. “It was a tough game. I’m actually glad we got that kind of challenge because we had to make some tough plays.”

Attleboro was a bit more active on the offensive end to start the second half, opening the third quarter with a 10-3 run. Jaiden Outland had an early late and Crowley (9 points) sandwiched a pair of threes — the first two triples from the Bombardiers — around a layup from Franco to surge ahead 23-20.

Franklin’s Ben Harvey and Franco traded buckets before a traditional three-point play from O’Leary with under a minute to go made it 25-25 going into the fourth quarter.

Franco opened the fourth with a bucket and Crowley sank another three as Attleboro took a 30-25 lead with six minutes to go. The Panthers, who had started to double-team late in the third quarter, extended their defensive pressure to full court in the fourth quarter.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

After O’Leary’s first traditional three-point play, Franklin’s press resulted in a thrown away pass and the Panthers cashed in with a triple from Allen. Another Attleboro turnover led to another three-point play for O’Leary, putting the Bombardiers ahead for good.

“I thought we played well on him all night long but he’s one of the better players in this league, and he showed it,” Houle said of O’Leary. “They went to him and he made the plays. It wasn’t just him scoring either, he had a couple of nice passes to Allen.”

Franklin boys basketball (14-1 Hockomock, 16-1 overall) will conclude its league slate on Friday on the road at Milford while Attleboro (8-7, 11-8) is home again against rival North Attleboro.