Basketball Recap: Granville Central Takes a Loss

Granville Central was the 82-68 winner over Franklin Academy when they last played one another back in November of 2023, but their luck changed this time around. The Granville Central Panthers took a 66-48 bruising from the Franklin Academy Patriots on Friday. While losing is never fun, the Panthers can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina basketball rankings (they are ranked 431st, while the Patriots are ranked 100th).

Franklin Academy was led to victory by Micah Rutledge and Hayes Lewis. Rutledge dropped a double-double on 20 points and 14 boards, while Lewis almost dropped a double-double on 21 points and nine rebounds. The dominant performance gave Rutledge a new career-high in points. Sam Artz was another key player, putting up ten points and eight rebounds.

Granville Central is on a three-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 1-6. As for Franklin Academy, they pushed their record up to 8-1 with the win, which was their 12th straight at home dating back to last season.

Granville Central will have a little extra prep time after the defeat as they won't be playing again for a while. They'll take on Louisburg at 7:30 p.m. on January 3, 2025. Franklin Academy will take on Voyager Academy in a holiday battle at at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Voyager Academy's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points in their last four matches.