Franklin Community was the 81-67 winner over New Palestine when they last played one another back in January of 2024, but their luck changed this time around. The Franklin Community Grizzly Cubs fell just short of the New Palestine Dragons by a score of 66-64 on Saturday. While losing is never fun, the Grizzly Cubs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 178th, while the Dragons are ranked 11th).
Franklin Community lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Kolt Nelson, who went 8 of 9 en route to 25 points in addition to seven rebounds and three blocks. Another player making a difference was Jayce Nielson, who went 6 for 12 on his way to 15 points and seven assists.
Julius Gizzi continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for New Palestine, going 12 of 16 en route to 34 points. Gizzi's evening made it 17 games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Ben Slagley, who dropped a double-double on ten points and ten boards.
Franklin Community's loss was their fourth straight at home, which dropped their record down to 5-9. As for New Palestine, the victory (which was their sixth in a row) raised their record to 13-2.
Both teams are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. Franklin Community will host Martinsville at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Franklin Community is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 53.2 points per game this season. As for New Palestine, they will square off against Lawrence North at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. One thing working in New Palestine's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points every time they've taken the court this season.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
