The Franklin Community Grizzly Cubs and the Martinsville Artesians will face off at 7:30 p.m. on January 26th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. One thing working in Franklin Community's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last eight games.
Last Saturday, Franklin Community faced New Palestine in a battle between two of the state's top teams. Franklin Community enjoyed a cozy 81-67 win over New Palestine. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
Franklin Community's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Micah Davis led the charge by scoring 26 points along with seven assists and five rebounds. Davis is on a roll when it comes to steals, as he's now grabbed two or more in the last eight games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kolt Nelson, who dropped a double-double on 15 points and ten rebounds.
Meanwhile, Martinsville's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Saturday after their eighth straight loss. They took a hard 74-56 fall against Bloomington South. The defeat was just more heartbreak for Martinsville, who fell 44-42 when the teams last met back in March of 2022.
Despite the defeat, Martinsville had strong showings from Grady Gardner, who scored 20 points, and Hunter Stroud, who scored 16 points. That was a full 35.7% of Martinsville's points, marking the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Aj Reynolds, who scored nine points.
Franklin Community's win bumped their record up to 12-2. As for Martinsville, their defeat was their fifth straight on the road, which bumped their record down to 3-11.
Fans should be in for an exciting game on Friday as the two teams are among the highest scoring teams in the league right now. Franklin Community hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 62.2 points per game. It's a different story for Martinsville, though, as they've been averaging only 51.5 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Franklin Community strolled past Martinsville when the teams last played back in January of 2023 by a score of 70-52. The rematch might be a little tougher for Franklin Community since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
