FRANKLIN – Similar to the first meeting of the season between the two programs, Franklin-Simpson jumped out to an early lead over South Warren and never looked back, defeating the visiting Spartans 70-29 on Thursday night to sweep this year’s series.
The Wildcats (20-6 overall, 16-2 Region 4) allowed an early South goal that tied things at 2-2, but then took total control and led for the entire course of the contest.
Stellar senior guard Tavin Lovan scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go along with three rebounds and four assists. Along with Lovan’s big outing, senior forward Ollie Eutsey added 18 points and six rebounds.
In its loss, the Spartans (6-20, 3-14 District 14) were carried by sophomore guard Tyler Martin, who finished with a showing of 9 points.
The Wildcats return to action on Friday evening on the road at Allen County-Scottsville at 6 p.m. South Warren has a bit of time off before hitting the road on Monday to Clinton County, with tipoff slated for 7:30 p.m.
Lovan and Franklin-Simpson came out of the gates fired up and scored the Wildcats’ first 6 points and a balanced attack from a handful of his teammates helped Franklin lead 14-2 after the opening quarter. Jaxson Smith had recorded the lone South Warren field goal.
At the 4:19 mark of the second, the Wildcats had scored 13 points to the Spartans’ two, as the scoreboard read 27-6. Lovan was already up to 13 points – all of those coming from under the goal. Franklin-Simpson went on to outscore South 12-6 throughout the remainder of the period and was in total control at halftime, up 39-12.
After two full quarters of action, Lovan led all scorers with 15 points to go along with 4 assists and three rebounds. Martin had tallied 6 points (2-of-2 three-pointers) to carry the Spartans.
Franklin shot 17-of-31 from the floor in the first half and outrebounded South Warren 21-8. The Spartans went 5-of-17 from the field.
Already up big, the Wildcats opened the third with back-to-back threes from Eutsey to force a running clock with 5:12 left in the quarter. Later on with a little under two minutes remaining, Franklin-Simpson held a 56-24 advantage and carried that into the final period.
The Wildcats outscored South Warren 14-5 in the fourth and picked up their third-straight victory.
–Follow Sporting Times High School Insider Tyler Mansfield on Twitter @RealTMansfield—
