Knight's run ends in Kittanning with loss to Penn Cambria

Franklin just couldn't get the ball to fall through the hoop Saturday afternoon and struggled to consistently keep up with a offensively strong Penn Cambria during the PIAA 3A Championship quaterfinals. The Knights dropped a 61-53 loss to the Panthers to close out an otherwise succesful season on the court. 

"We just never really could get anything going until the fourth, when we started pressing," coach Jason Fulmer said after the loss at Armstrong High School. He described his team's offensive struggles as uncharcacteristic. "They just didn't fall. That's bastketball from time to time." 

The Panthers, who are 24-5 on the season, jumped out to a quick start on the Knights – snagging the tip off and converting it into a three-pointer. It was the first of eight baskets they would down from behind the arc in the first half.

They threw a full court press at the Knights, who seemed to lose track of time and turned the ball over after failing to cross mid-court in ten seconds. They escaped too much damage when Penn Cambria's Luke Shuagis only hit one of two free throws after being fouled by Johnathan Leccia. The Knights found themselves already playing catchup with just 75 seconds off the clock.

Leccia was the first to score for Franklin, sinking two foul shots near the six-minute mark of the first quarter. He got the ball rolling on the next bucket as well, dishing a defensive rebound  to Damon Curry who threw it down court to Ethan Owens. Owens converted the fastbreak to tie the game and the Knights seemed to wake up.

The refs were active with the whistle. Both teams racked up fouls in the first quarter. For Franklin they seemed to all take turns and no one was in immediate foul trouble. Franklin snagged a steal, normally a scoring opportunity,  but Curry was called for charging as he went for the basket.

On the next possession, Franklin took four shots before finding success. Cole Buckley followed up his miss with the first of his team-high 21 points. At 4:30 in the first Franklin seemed to settle down and had the lead 6-4.

Leccia added to the total with the putback 20 seconds later. After the media timeout, the Panthers broke the Knights run, but Franklin remained in the lead with Buckley hitting a field goal off a pass from Jalen Wood, who dished as he drove the baseline toward the basket.

At the 1:40 mark, Cambria took the lead again and would never trail again in the game. By the end of the first quarter, the Knights were down 17-12.

The second quarter seemed like more of the same for the Knights – unable to get the ball to drop and both of their top scorers were without a point.

​It was Buckley, Owens and Dreyden Payne, the team’s sixth man, who carried the Knights offensively, while Wood and Curry supported the effort with well-timed assists, steals and blocked shots.

On the flipside, the Panthers continued to drain three-pointers and look tough of defense despite amassing nine team fouls.
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​At the half, Cambria had increased their lead by one at 33-27.

When Franklin returned to the floor, they continued to the struggle on offense. Shots were in and out, passes were finding their way to players on the other team and they just didn't seem like themselves. The Panthers scored the first five points of the third quarter and had an 11-point lead. Wood was finally able to penetrate the paint and find the net for his first bucket and get hacked.

He added one more from the foul line for an old-fashioned three point play. Then it was Curry’s time to finally get on the scoreboard. Number 33 hit a three-pointer with 3:33 left in the third to shrink the deficit to five.

Cambria’s senior Garrett Harrold, who recorded a game-high 29, scored the next six points, pushing the lead back to 11. Franklin’s Buckley got a steal with less than a minute to go and took it down the court for two and the third quarter ended with Cambria up nine, 44-35.

As the fourth opened, Franklin seemed to have a now or never attitude. Owens scored a bucket with 7:27 to go and downed the bonus after Cambria was called for foul number seven on the half.

It was Owens again on offense with another bucket plus one to answer a three-pointer by the Panthers. Then Franklin turned on the full court press and appeared to catch Cambria off guard. Two steals and two quick baskets later and the Knights were closing in on the lead scoring seven points in just 20 seconds.

Cambria called a timeout and Curry stole the ball during the inbound pass and the game was tied at 47 with 4:36 left to play.

Harrold answered for the Panthers. A minute later Buckley returned the score to a tie with a little less than three minutes to go.

After a minute of play broken up by two timeouts, Cambria took over control of the game again and outscored the Knights 12-4 down the stretch. Senior Aiden McCracken came off the bench to score two and Buckley put in the final basket of the game with only six seconds to go.

Franklin ends the season with a 23-5 record, a District 10 championship and as a PIAA 3A tournament quarterfinalist. Scoring for the Knights Saturday were Buckley, 21; Owens, 11; Payne, 7; Curry, 5; Leccia, 4; Wood 3; and McCracken, 2.  

"Ethan played a great game... and so did Cole Buckley," Fulmer said in his recap. "He (Buckley) is going to do whatever he can to will us to win.

He reflected on the season as a success, especially for his four seniors who stepped up in fill roles they had been waiting to do for several seasons. "Those guys have come a long way in their three years," he said of Leccia, Owens, McCracken and Devin Hagg.

As for the underclassmen, Fulmer hopes they will learn from the lose and use it to fuel their desire for  improvements during the offseason. "We 'stole' a month of basketball," he said of the experience gained from the practices and games that come only through making the post season playoffs.

He also praised the energic support of the Franklin area as one component that makes a championship run so memoriable. "It's great to see the community come out in droves," he said. "The kids love it."

He hopes it will also push Curry, Wood, Buckley and the rest of the underclassmen work hard to make another state finals run next year.  

"If that doesn't make you love the game, you better go get your heart checked," he said. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​