Coming off his first loss as head coach at South Warren High School, Tony Hopper brought his club to Franklin-Simpson for a matchup with Tavin Lovan and the Wildcats. Early in the contest, the Spartans shot it very well and used strong rebounding to hang onto the advantage throughout the period. At the end of the quarter, it was 14-13 South Warren, though Franklin-Simpson scored the final five points in the opening frame.
In the second quarter, SWHS struggled to find its shot and dealt with intense pressure and speed from the Wildcats defense. South Warren wouldn’t make a field goal for over four minutes, the drought ended on a Dayton Gumm layup. Tavin Lovan ended up with ten points at halftime, his teammate Trey Radcliff had seven, and Daelon Payne had six. Though Franklin-Simpson appeared to dominate the second quarter, it was just a 30-25 lead at the intermission.
The momentum was clearly on the side of the home team, but the questions left to be answered were what adjustments Hopper’s staff would make in the locker room and, more importantly, would South Warren start knocking down open its jump shots.
South Warren’s offense began to find itself again in the third quarter, and from that point on, it became a back-and-forth game filled with stifling defense, physical play down low, and big shots on both sides. The unsung key for South Warren was guard Chandler Stephanski, known most for his perimeter defense, but on this night he hit three enormous shots from beyond the arc.
The fourth quarter featured lead changes, hard fouls, and incredible drives. In the final seconds, Dayton Gumm scored on a layup, Tavin Lovan answered, and 17.7 seconds remained. After a missed opportunity and a deflection out of bounds, South Warren had just over eight seconds to play and a shot to win a big road game. Gumm ended up with the ball in the right corner, a little off balance, and took a three that was too strong. It bounced off the back rim and Lovan snatched it as time expired.
Final: Franklin-Simpson 52, South Warren 51
F-S: Lovan 22, Payne 10, Radcliff/Doaks 8
SW: Gumm/Stacker 12, Beckham 11, Stephanski 9
