Franklin, Pa. (EYT) – Friday night’s showdown between the Franklin Knights and the Rocky Grove Orioles at the Castle was a tale of two halves with Franklin using a big first half to get a 60-53 win.

(Photo: Rocky Grove and Franklin tip-off in the rivalry game won by the Knights. Photo by Eddie McDonald)

Franklin broke a 6-6 tie early in the first quarter with a 31-15 run to end the half, which proved to be the difference-maker.

Rocky Grove battled back to make it a game due in large part to an 18-9 third quarter advantage, but every time the Orioles got close, Franklin had an answer.

“We haven’t had one practice all week,” Franklin head coach Steve Cutchall said. “Sometimes you just have to roll the ball out and play, and I thought in the first half we wanted it and executed really well.”

The Knights (3-1) used a barrage of three-balls in the opening quarter and really played to their strengths.

“We took advantage of what I thought we were better than them at and that was quickness. We got up and down the floor well which led to easy buckets,” Cutchall said.

Cutchall, who spent the first 10 years of his coaching career at Rocky Grove, is no stranger to the three-ball. On Friday night, it was the Knights who had the answer from long range. Franklin finished with six made threes, three of which came from senior point guard Ryan Greggs.

Rocky Grove was cold from distance, shooting just 4 of 12 with all four makes coming from senior Tyler Davis, who finished with a game-high 20 points.

In the first half, coach Ryan Umbenhaur’s Orioles didn’t execute and as a result found themselves in a 16-point hole heading into the locker rooms.

When asked what went wrong, Umbenhaur said “all of it,” in regards to the first half.

Rocky Grove saw its point guard, junior Tyler Clayton, in foul trouble and Umbenhaur thinks that threw them off their game plan.

“I thought the foul trouble we got in early, with our point guard (Clayton) kind of forced us to change up our personnel, so to speak,” Umbenhaur said. “I thought Dylan Rodemoyer came in and did a great job, but he had never played point guard before. He handled the ball, but he was put into a position that he wasn’t accustomed to running.”

For as bad as the first half was for the Orioles (2-1), the third quarter was what kept them in the game.

Coach Umbenhaur told his team at the intermission that he believed in them and thought they could play with them, despite the 16-point deficit.

“We started playing defense and were unselfish,” Umbenhaur said. “That’s the true Rocky Grove team.”

Rocky Grove won the third quarter 18-9 to bring the deficit to seven entering the fourth quarter.

That defense Umbenhaur talked about really gave Franklin fits and resulted in the Orioles digging themselves out of that first half hole.

“Bottom line is, we haven’t had much game planning,” Cutchall said. “They kind of did a different kind of zone that we hadn’t seen, and we were running a press breaker that we haven’t really worked on this year. It just took us a little bit of time to get adjusted and we found the gaps a little better. Hey, give Rocky Grove credit they battled right back and made it a fun game.

The fourth quarter was deadlocked at 14 apiece with each team answering for the early goings of the final frame. In the end, Franklin just had a response to anything Rocky Grove did. If Rocky Grove got a turnover, the Knights quickly would return the favor.

Junior Travis Perry finished right behind Davis with 17 points and 12 rebounds, but those were the only two that scored in double figures for the Orioles. Preston Morgan led the way for Franklin with 19 points followed by Greggs with 17.

A game like this can go a long way, win or lose, and both coaches thought this was good preparation for what’s to come later in the season.

Franklin has a perennial powerhouse in Farrell next on the docket and Cutchall said a game like the one played Friday night is a good barometer for the matchup with the Steelers.

“I was afraid of overlooking Farrell because the most important game of the season is the first league game. This was a great hype game and a rivalry game. But bottom line is our most important game is next week and hopefully we have some practice time as long as the weather cooperates and all we care about is Farrell,” Cutchall said.

Umbenhaur plans on building off this win moving forward and thinks his team will be more accustomed to a playoff-like atmosphere moving forward.

“The nice thing is we do have a game tomorrow night so we can shake this off,” Umbenhaur said. “Not many places are going to be as loud as this was or exciting as this was, especially in the second half, so we just keep building off this so when we get in another similar situation it’s kind of an old thing for them.”

Both teams have a lot of potential of making substantial runs this season. Coach Cutchall’s goal is to get better as the season moves on and he thinks Rocky Grove will do that as well.

“Hey Rocky Grove is going to do some big things and they’re going to learn from this and they got to play in this atmosphere and coach Umbenhaur and them will learn from this just like we did.

Story by Eddie McDonald

Box Score

Rocky Grove

Davis 8-0-0-20, T. Perry 7-3-4-17, Curran 1-5-9-7, Clayton 0-0-0-0, Francic 2-1-2-5, Kirwin 1-0-0-2 Rodemoyer 1-0-0-2, Winslow 0-0-0-0, J. Heasley 0-0-0-0, Bruner 0-0-0-0, Knupp 0-0-0-0, S. Perry 0-0-0-0, M. Heasley 0-0-0-0

Franklin

Morgan 5-8-12-19, Johnson 2-0-0-4, Baughman 2-1-2-5, Hoffman 3-1-4-7, Greggs, 4-6-8-17, Emerson 2-0-0-5, Shouey 1-0-0-3, Hugus 0-0-0-0, Gordon 0-0-0-0, Convino 0-0-0-0, Downs 0-0-0-0, Rakow 0-0-0-0, Wood 0-0-0-0, Kelly 0-0-0-0, Warnick 0-0-0-0, Hawke 0-0-0-0, McFadden 0-0-0-0, Crivelli 0-0-0-0