NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — McCann Tech ran out of gas late as it lost a tight one to Franklin Tech, 46-44, Tuesday night.
Bailey Young scored 19 points, and Garrett Cole added 17 for the Eagles who outscored the Hornets, 13-9 in the fourth quarter to earn the win.
“Tough one tonight,” McCann Tech coach Chris Bullett said. “We didn’t play as a team, and that’s how you get beat.”
It was a slow start for both teams as they struggled on the offensive end of the floor. It took nearly three minutes for McCann (9-6) to get on the board, but fortunately for the Hornets Franklin Tech only had one basket. Both teams were careless with the basketball giving the ball away without much pressure. The quarter ended 8-6 in favor of Franklin Tech.
In the second quarter, McCann Tech started to take care of the basketball more and was able to go on a 7-0 run to give them the lead. One bright spot for the Hornets came on the offensive glass; they were able to take advantage of second chance points which proved to be big in a game where they struggled to score. Both of these teams were unable to be separated going into the break, similar to the last time these two met.
It wasn’t until the third quarter last game where McCann started to dominate the game and for a short period today it looked like that was going to be the same. McCann came out on a 9-2 run and really looked
like they were going to run away with this game. Sean Sumner (team-high 14 points) and Connor Griswold (11 points) were crucial during this run. This time, Franklin Tech showed some fight and were able to chip away at the deficit bringing them to within two points, 35-33.
The fourth quarter had everyone in the stands on the edge of their seats with both teams going back and forth with each other exerting energy on both sides of the ball. It wasn’t until late in the game that Franklin Tech took its first lead since early in the first quarter.
The game then see-sawed with both teams answering the other’s punches. Franklin Tech was able to knock a jumper down with less than 2 minutes in the game to give the Eagles a 44-43 lead. After a few chances for McCann, Franklin Tech was able to knock down another free throw and got its own miss on the second shot.
After knocking down one more free throw with 20 seconds left in the game, it was set up for McCann to knock down a shot and send this one to overtime. With a late foul, McCann went to the line to tie the game up but was unable to knock down the free throws or convert the back-to-back rebounds for shots afterwards.
It was a gut wrenching loss for the Hornets as they are just one game away from clinching a spot in postseason play.
They will look to bounce back Friday against Duggan in hopes to qualify for the tournament.
