MANDEVILLE — Franklinton led wire-to-wire after jumping out to a 9-0 lead and a 36-20 halftime advantage, before hanging on for a 58-52 victory over Lakeshore in District 8-4A action Tuesday night on the road.
The Demons led 53-39 through three quarters and 54-41 with 6:57 to go in the fourth, but Lakeshore went on an 11-2 run to close the gap to four points.
Ben Foster hit a field goal to start the run at the 6:10 mark. Brendan Perry made a layup, trimming it to 54-45. Franklinton’s Keandre Martin passed to T.Y. Pope, who was good on a shot, but Perry knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:33 on the clock for a 56-47 contest. Hunter Dean hit a jumper at the 1:44 mark. Following an offensive foul by Franklinton, Dean hit for three and the Demons lead was down to 56-52 at the 1:28 mark.
Franklinton missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 34.7 left and but Lakeshore turned the ball over at the 20.2-second mark.
Pope was fouled with 17 seconds to go and hit both free throws to make it 58-52, as the Demons hung on for the victory.
“They play a small lineup, so it kind of limits us as far as our bench,” Franklinton coach Brad Oestriecher said. “We’re missing one of our guys sick, so we only played really six guys. It took a toll on us.”
Martin scored nine points and knocked three 3-pointers, including a pair in the third quarter that pushed the lead to 17 both times.
“We play hard and we play all of the way till the end,” Martin said. “We went through adversity, they kind of came back in the (fourth) quarter and we took them out and got the win.”
Oestriecher praised Martin for his play.
“They decided to try to let Keandre win the game and sagged off of him and he hit shots exactly like I wanted him to,” Oestriecher said.
The Demons opened up their 9-0 lead on three 3-pointers. Kian Conerly opened the scoring with a 3-pointer on the first possession. He found Martin for three and Trequan Charles was good for three more for the 9-0 lead just 1:45 into the game.
Lakeshore worked the lead down and Franklinton led by four at 17-13 after the first quarter.
The Titans got the lead to 17-15 with 7:20 left in the first half, but that was the closest they were the rest of the way.
Franklinton took a 36-20 lead to the halftime break.
Lakeshore made a comeback in the fourth quarter, but the Demons got the win, 58-52.
Pope led Franklinton with 21 points.
Kian Conerly posted 13 points and hit three 3-pointers.
Raisean Hart recorded eight points and Charles tallied six points. Charles was successful on a pair of 3-point attempts.
Dean led all scorers with 25 points for the Titans. Dean hit three 3-pointers.
C.J. Ivy posted 11 points, which included a 3-pointer.
Perry had seven while Colby Parker recorded three, Foster posted four and Troy Henry added two for Lakeshore. Perry and Parker hit a 3-pointer each.