STAFF REPORT

EMPORIA

The Broncos closed out the regular season on Friday night in what would be a pivotal game for the Broncos and their post-season standings in the region. It was a packed house when Franklin took on district opponent Greensville, which is in division 2A. The Broncos knew they had a tough battle coming in against a very good Eagle basketball team, which they had beaten last year in Greensville County for the first time in 17 years.

After trailing by 17 points in the second half in their first match-up of the season at Franklin, the Broncos came back to cut it to two in the closing seconds, but fell just shy of victory. The Eagles came in averaging a little over 60 points per game and almost 10 3-pointers per game.

The Broncos knew their defense would be the key if they were hoping to come out on the better side this time around. Defense it was, as the Broncos strived to keep the score low as they led 20-19 at the half.

The second half would not be much different as the score was 30-30 at the end of third quarter. After trailing 7-2, the Broncos regained the lead and led the entire game until about 2 minutes left when the Eagles connected on only their second and final 3-pointer of the game to take a 1-point lead.

The Broncos would end up tying the game and regained possession off of a missed Eagle shot, and the Broncos had the ball with 13 seconds remaining as Coach Robby Cutchins called a timeout.

The Broncos came out and ran the play to perfection as Drelyn Ford hit Malik Haley and the two ran a screen-and-roll to the bucket against the man-to-man defense of the Eagles, and Haley laid it up and in to give the Broncos a 45-43 advantage with only 3 seconds remaining.

The Eagles would have the ball last as they took a timeout to draw up a play with 3 seconds left. The Eagles got the ball inbounds and attempted to get a shot off as Drelyn Ford contested and the shot was off the mark as the final horn sounded.

Cutchins said after the game, “What an overall great effort by these young men tonight. I was so proud of the way we came out and got after it defensively. It was one of those games that the boys needed to understand: That if we stuck to the game plan and slowed it down a little and contested the shooters, then we could have success and have a shot of knocking them off. We did just that and I’m proud of them. This will help us big time heading in to the post-season.”

Malik Haley had a game high 17 points, and reigning district player of the year Drelyn Ford had another double double, his 13th of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Broncos will travel to Brunswick on Wednesday to take on the Bulldogs in the district quarterfinals of the Tri-Rivers District Tournament.