FRANKLIN—Southampton High School defeated rival Franklin 76-68 in double overtime Saturday night.

“We battled,” said Southampton Coach Will Melbye. “We had to preserver to get through it; it is always a good thing when you come out of this rivalry with a win.”

Southampton improved to 7-4 on the season after beginning the year 1-3. Franklin fell to 4-5.

Leading the way for Southampton was Nick Doyle with 17 points. Josh Johnson added 15 points and Jalen Ford had 13 points.

Leading the way for Franklin was Justin Grant with 20 points, while Trey Kigler had 14 points

“It was just an awesome game — two overtimes,” said Franklin Coach Danny Dillon. “I feel like we gave it all we had, and we’re really excited about what the boys did.”

Southampton was first to score with a 2-point shot by Doyle, who scored again off a fast break that turned into a 7-point run for the Indians. Franklin’s Jalen Vincent ran with a 3-point shot with 4:30 left in the first quarter. The first quarter ended with Southampton leading 13-7.

Doyle started off the second quarter with a steal followed by fast break lay-up to give the Indians a 15-7 lead. The half ended with Southampton leading 27-21.

“We showed some flashes of what we can do and what we could be,” Melbye said. “It was tough for us to get into a rhythm with all of our fouls; we just couldn’t get going and get into a rhythm on offense.”

Franklin came out in the third quarter with the momentum on its side as Vincent hit a 3-pointer, followed by a fast-break lay-up by Andre Foreman to bring the Broncos to within a point of the Indians, 27-26.

With 5:40 left in the third quarter, Foreman gave the Broncos their first lead of the night when he went 2-for-2 at the line after being fouled. The third quarter ended with Franklin leading 39-36.

We just couldn’t put them away,” Melbye said. “We let them hang around.”

Both teams went back and forth for the entire fourth quarter and first overtime with neither team getting more than 4 points ahead of the other. The teams were tied at the end of the fourth quarter at 55, and at the end of the first overtime at 62.

With 1:44 left in the second overtime, Johnson hit a 3-point shot to give the Indians a 69-66 lead. With a minute left, he dished the ball to Jay’R McCain, who hit a 2-pointer to extend the lead to 71-66 to continue an 8-point run for the Indians. Grant drove the lane for a lay-up to give Franklin its final points. 

“I knew at the beginning of the year, once we clicked, we were going to light the scoreboard up,” said Melbye. “We just have to stop people defensively, and we have been able to do that a lot better the past couple of games with rebounding and being more active defensively.”

Southampton will travel to Windsor High School on Monday, Jan. 24, for another non-district competition; game time is 7 p.m. The Broncos will host Tri-Rivers District foe Chesterfield at 77 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26.