Panthers Push The Pace To Run Past Foxboro

 
 
 FRANKLIN, Mass. – The Franklin boys basketball team had their foot on the gas throughout the first half. The Panthers slammed the pedal down in the second half.

Junior Sean O’Leary poured in 16 of his career-high 26 points in the third quarter and the Panthers turned a single-digit halftime lead into a runaway win over visiting Foxboro, 77-51.

The Panthers transitioned a strong defensive effort into some easy buckets, getting out and running and attacking the basket early in the shot clock to balloon the nine-point halftime lead up to 21 points going into the fourth quarter.

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

“I thought the pace of the game was much improved for us in the second half,” said Franklin head coach CJ Neely, now in his ninth year at the helm of the Panthers. “We played into the halfcourt with them a little too much in the first half but we’re better when we’re playing with pace and sharing the basketball. I thought we amped it up and it started with our defense. We made a couple of adjustments, we had to switch how we were guarding the ball screens and the blur cuts, and once we made that switch, we stopped [Ryan LeClair] from going downhill and that took away some of their shooting. Once we got stops, we were able to get out and run.”

Franklin showed glimpses of its fast-paced offense by opening the second quarter with a 10-2 surge. O’Leary scored the first five points, both off assists from Bradley Herndon, the latter coming off a Foxboro turnover. Ben Harvey (19 points) got to the rim quickly after a Foxboro miss, and O’Leary found Geino Scaringello for a three less than 10 seconds after another Warrior misfire.

Foxboro showed some fight with a 10-0 run of its own to keep it close. Sam Golub (11 points, four rebounds, three blocks) had a tough finish around a defender and then assisted on a three-pointer from Alex Penders (10 points, nine rebounds, four assists). Golub turned a steal into another two, and Penders found LeClair (14 points) in the corner for a triple to bring the visitors within one possession at 25-22.

Scaringello, who had struggled to find his shooting touch in Franklin’s first two games, stayed red hot to finish the first half, hitting back-to-back triples to give the hosts a 31-22 lead at the break.

“It was nice to get Geino going, he’s been a shooter for us a long time and he had a slow start,” Neely said. “He was doing all of the defensive stuff but his shot wasn’t going and he was getting frustrated. We know he’s a good shooter, so we just kept telling him to keep shooting and he showed what we can do tonight.”

The third belonged to O’Leary and the Panthers. Justin Allen hauled in one of his 10 rebounds after Franklin forced Foxboro into a tough mid-range jumper at the shot clock, he quickly pushed it up court and found O’Leary, who wasted little time blowing by his man and laying it in for an easy two. From there, Franklin was off and running.

O’Leary canceled out a triple from Golub with one of his own, and on the next play, took down a defensive rebound off a free throw miss and went coast-to-coast, this time going to his right and finishing through contact for two plus the foul.

Allen came up with a turnover two plays later, and despite Golub getting one of his three blocks in the game, O’Leary was first to the offensive board and once again finished through a foul, hitting a free throw to complete another traditional three-point play.

“There were a couple of matchups we thought we could exploit,” Neely said. “We told them if they find themselves in a situation where you see a little bit of a lane, and the matchup is right, we thought we could get in there and put some stress on them, make them make more decisions than they want to and rotate more than they want to. We didn’t want to wait, if it was there, we wanted to put the stress on them. During the big run, I thought we were able to get downhill and do just that.”

A good example of Franklin’s pace came with under four minutes to play in the third. Golub beat his man and laid it in for two with 3:41 left. Harvey took the inbound pass and raced down the left side of the court, speeding past his man and laying one up and in just seven seconds after Foxboro’s bucket.

“Sean was incredible on both ends of the floor, and he does it every night,” Neely said. “And what Harvey did on Penders was exceptional, those guys really set the tone on both ends of the floor and the rest of the guys responded.”

Even when Foxboro had some success on the offensive end, like when Penders banked a tough turnaround in down low after an offensive rebound from Ryan Kelley, the Panthers pounced offensively. Herndon took the inbounds and used his speed to attack the rim, going up strong with a left-handed finish plus the foul.

“Their pace wore us down as the game went on,” said Foxboro head coach Jon Gibbs. “They were flying at us in transition. Not many teams have multiple forwards like Harvey and O’Leary that can get a rebound and just push it themselves that effectively. And they have a lot of shooting to spread you out.

“Once the deficit got to double digits, we had to start playing faster offensively ourselves to try to climb back in it. The game got into their tempo in the second half.”

Click here for a photo gallery from this game.

Harvey hit a couple of early buckets in the fourth, capping his night with a three as Franklin’s advantage peaked at 68-40 midway through the final frame.

“The first two games, defensively we did a good job and it helped us weather some storms,” Neely said. “We went down big at OA and KP had a second half lead on us but our defense stayed true. We knew our offense would eventually kick. It was just about keeping it simple, it felt like guys were trying to make a five-point shot. We had such a simple practice yesterday, just getting back to doing the stuff we do and I thought we did a good job of trusting each other tonight.”

Both teams will go outside of the league for their upcoming stretch of games. Franklin (3-0 Hockomock, 3-0 overall) is off to Xaverian on Friday before traveling to Florida for three games over break. Foxboro (1-2, 1-2) closes out this week with trips to Milton and New Bedford on Thursday and Friday, respectively.