Franklin fired in 13 shots from beyond the arc, 11 in the first half, and rumbled to a 17-0 lead in an 87-54 rout of Bellefontaine in a regional semifinal.
“You look up and it’s 17-0 and you don’t know what to think,” said Austin Doliboa, who scored 16 points for the Wildcats.
“Our guys are hitting all those threes, we get pumped up and play harder defense, and before you know it, they’re not even scoring. You just think, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’ ”
Evan Crowe and Matt Thompson had two 3-pointers apiece during that opening 17-point binge. Thompson finished with 15 points by sinking 5 of 7 treys, and Crowe was 4 of 9 from long range and totaled 20 points.
Not to be forgotten was Luke Kennard, who soared to 31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
“When we come out shooting like that, we’re hard to guard,” said Franklin coach Brian Bales, with his squad shooting 55 percent from the field. “I was more proud of our defense, though. I think it’s overlooked when we hit like we did. I thought our 1-2-2 made them make some decisions and kind of affected them getting in their flow.”
The Wildcats (26-1) will be back at UD Arena at 3 p.m. Saturday for a heavyweight showdown with Dunbar (21-5) for the regional title. The Wolverines rolled past Columbus South 72-54 in Thursday’s first semifinal.
“Hopefully we intimidated them a little bit,” Crowe said with a smile. “We know we lost in the sectionals the last couple years, and Dunbar was one of those teams we lost to (66-63 in a 2012-13 sectional final). We want to make them know we’re for real.”
“This is the one everybody has hoped to watch,” Bales said. “We’ve got a lot of respect for Dunbar, and coach (Peter) Pullen is first class. Our guys are ready. We believe in each other, and they are on a mission. We’re going to give it everything we’ve got Saturday.”
“I think all the realism is kind of sinking in for what we’re doing,” Doliboa said. “I think there’s more great things to come from us. We’ve just got to keep doing what we do and go out and win the next one each time, and before we know it, we should be up there in Columbus.”
Franklin turned in a state championship-worthy performance in the first half against Bellefontaine. The Wildcats led 31-8 at the first stop and 52-24 at intermission.
The Chieftains (16-10) looked bewildered as Franklin nailed 11 of its first 12 shots and drained five 3-pointers in the opening 2:44.
Crowe started the barrage with a 3-ball in the initial 17 seconds.
“I just knew when I hit that first shot that it was going to be a good night,” he said. “That happened against Ponitz too. I like those games. And beyond that, it was 17-0. It wasn’t 17-12. They weren’t scoring either, and that really set the tone.”
Said Thompson, “I couldn’t really make anything in warmups, and the first three I shot looked pretty, so I decided to keep going until I missed. It’s pretty nice, especially when you’ve got a guy like Luke on your team who creates for other guys and you’re wide open.”
Kennard was only 2 of 7 on 3-pointers. Overall, he was 11 of 20 from the floor and 7 of 8 at the line.
“Man, that first quarter was awesome,” Kennard said. “I just remember looking up and we were up 17-0, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I knew that we were ready to go. I could tell in everybody’s faces in the locker room that we were locked in.
“We make plays for each other, and we did that tonight. A lot of guys stepped up and hit great shots. If we’re doing that as a team, we’re pretty lethal.”
The Wildcats converted 11 of 18 treys in the first half, 13 of 27 overall. Bales admitted he was too wrapped up in the game to really enjoy the blazing start.
“I probably need to relax more, but to me, it’s always we’re up one or it’s tied. That’s the way I’m wired,” he said. “I’ll tell you this: Yesterday in offensive prep work, the assistant coaches actually had me shut it down because we were lights out. I guess they were right shutting it down because we just carried it over to tonight.
“If they’re open, I want them to shoot it. We always tell them if you miss one, the next one’s going in. I want our guys to play fearless. I kind of like the Northern Iowa approach. Green light, man.”
This was the same Franklin squad that couldn’t get a 3-pointer to fall in 11 first-half attempts against Springfield Shawnee last weekend. FHS ended up 3 of 16 in that contest.
“We had an off night, but that’s a tribute to Shawnee,” Bales said. “They were great defensively. They were one of the better defensive teams we’ve played.”
Thursday’s successful bombing pushed the Wildcats to the verge of some Ohio High School Athletic Association history.
Franklin has hit 293 treys this year, moving into second place on the state’s all-time list for 3-pointers in a season.
Within reach is No. 1 Mentor, which set the state record of 307 in 2010-11.
Bellefontaine coach Henry Stolly probably felt like he watched the Wildcats make 100 treys Thursday. There wasn’t much the Chieftains could do about it.
“I’m sure the rim looked really big to some of those guys,” Stolly said. “It was one of those games where you feel like you have some different defensive ideas and you try a lot of things, but when they’re hitting that many shots, it just doesn’t make any difference.”
Crowe collected six boards and six assists for Franklin. Doliboa showed some flash on two alley-oop dunks off passes from Crowe and Thompson.
Kennard is still third on the OHSAA’s all-time scoring list with 2,936 points. He’s bearing down on New Concord John Glenn’s Jay Burson, who ranks second with 2,958.
Max Oyer and Caleb Mitchell each scored 10 points for Bellefontaine, while Oyer grabbed 10 rebounds. Tristin Tillman added seven points, six assists and four caroms.
The Chieftains committed 15 turnovers. The Wildcats had five in their 18th straight victory.
“I was proud of the kids for the fight that they gave,” Stolly said. “We did a lot of good things this season. We had some ups and downs. We had a few injuries throughout the course of the year, but that’s what a team usually goes through.
“I told the kids that we had to get through some of those tough times and some of that adversity to get to this stage to be playing in a regional game. Hopefully that’s something they take with them for a long time. It was our first district championship in 15 years, and we’d like to make that a little bit more of a common occurrence.”
Bellefontaine 8-16-16-14—54
Franklin 31-21-21-14—87
BELLEFONTAINE (16-10): Max Oyer 4 1 10; Tristin Tillman 2 2 7; Daniel Boy 4 0 9; Caleb Mitchell 3 4 10; Dawsin Tillman 1 0 2; Hayden Nease 0 2 2; Jake Kennedy 2 2 8; Turner Scott 1 0 3; Isaiah Miller 1 0 3. Totals: 18-11-54.
FRANKLIN (26-1): Austin Doliboa 7 1 16; Jake Riddell 1 0 3; Luke Kennard 11 7 31; Evan Crowe 8 0 20; Matt Thompson 5 0 15; Cole Blevins 1 0 2. Totals: 33-8-87.
3-pters: B 7 (Kennedy 2, Oyer, Scott, Miller, T. Tillman, Boy), F 13 (Thompson 5, Crowe 4, Kennard 2, Doliboa, Riddell)
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