A highly-intriguing game took place in the third game of the State Farm Shootout at South Warren High School on Saturday afternoon.
Region 4 club Franklin-Simpson welcomed in a Region 3 squad coached by former Warren Central coach Tim Riley in Owensboro Catholic for the 4 p.m. showdown. In what would be a back-and-forth affair, the Wildcats fought until the end and escaped past the visiting Aces, winning 52-36 in front of a packed Spartan Gym.
Luke Hayden dropped 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting and grabbed 5 rebounds for O. Cath (11-7). In its loss, Franklin-Simpson was led by Kentucky Mr. Basketball candidate Tavin Lovan’s 22 points and 10 rebounds.
The Wildcats (13-4) return to action on Tuesday evening as they welcome in Greenwood for a 7:30 p.m. contest.
Both sides came out of the gates with its minds set on playing a competitive basketball game – and that’s what it was – for the most part.
At the end of the first quarter, Franklin had a slim lead over Catholic, leading 12-11, powered by Carlesso Doaks’ two made three-pointers. Throughout the ensuing eight minutes, the same mentality continued as the Aces scored 11 points to the Wildcats’ 10 and made it a tied contest at halftime, as the scoreboard read 22-22.
At the break, Lovan had 8 points, including three made dunks, and five rebounds to lead Franklin-Simpson while Gabriel McFarland paced Owensboro Catholic with 7 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor.
The evenly-matched momentum would turn to one side in the third quarter.
With 1:44 remaining in the period, Owensboro went on a 13-0 run and held the Wildcats to a 2-minute scoring drought, taking a 36-24 advantage. The Aces went on to add another bucket to their side of the stat sheet and led 38-26 heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth, Lovan would do all he could for Franklin-Simpson, but Owensboro Catholic scored more points and were victorious.
