Cook and the Wildcats reeled off their seventh straight win with a 59-42 victory over of the visiting Madison Mohawks on Friday night.
“My role is to just get my teammates involved — knowing that if I score with the ball, they’re still going to get the ball, too,” said Cook, a 6-foot guard who averages 23.1 points a game. “I’m just trying to get all of my teammates involved and get them better, really.”
Franklin (7-1) snapped a two-game losing streak against its Southwestern Buckeye League crossover rival.
The Wildcats led 14-5 after the first quarter and 30-12 at the halftime break. Cook scored 16 of his points in the first half.
“We knew what they were going to do,” Cook said. “They came out with a box-and-one. We knew we had to adjust. Teammates knocked down some big shots coming through the face guard. We just played through adversity.
“We knew they were going to play scrappy and try to come back when we got a lead. We just sustained in overall.”
Madison (1-7) did make a notable threat in the third quarter. The Mohawks outscored the Wildcats 18-16 in the third and later cut their deficit to within nine.
The play of the game came when Franklin sophomore Kendol Roberts threw an in-bounds pass off the back of Madison defender Kaleb Miller with 1.3 seconds left in the third quarter. Roberts quickly regained possession and sunk a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Wildcats into the final frame with a 46-30 lead. Roberts finished with nine points.
“For two and a half, three quarters, I thought we did a really good job,” Franklin coach David Alford said. “That third quarter coming out, we talked at halftime about how we wanted to try and put them away. Our defense dictates our offense, and when they’re dialed in defensively, I think we’re really good. And when we’re not dialed in defensively, I think anybody can play with us.
“That third quarter obviously kind of showed the other end of the spectrum, and so I was disappointed in that quarter. But overall, a win’s a win right now, and we’ll take it.”
Madison had 10 players hit the scoring column. Rocky Millsap led the Mohawks with 11 points, while Miller had 10.
The Wildcats held Madison leading scorer Grady Combs, who averages 19.9 points a game, to just four.
“We dug a hole in the first half,” Mohawks coach Shane Richardson said. “We scored more in the third than we did in the entire first half. That was the game.
“Coming into this, seven games in, we were third in the league in total offense,” Richardson added. “Then we’re dead last giving up 70 points a game. We defended well enough. We did enough defensively to come in and win a game. We’ve just got to put four quarters together.
“I tip my hat to Franklin. They know our stuff. He’s coached against us for a couple years now. These kids defend. They get after it. They get up in your stuff.”
Madison has a quick turnaround and travels to Preble Shawnee on Saturday. Franklin visits Talawanda on Tuesday.
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