Guerin Catholic played one of its best basketball games of the season Friday night, defeating Franklin Central 71-65 in the Eagles Nest.
The win gives Guerin Catholic a 13-8 record on the season, with two games remaining, and stopped a two-game losing streak.
Matthew Godfrey scored eight points as the Golden Eagles led 17-13 after one quarter. Franklin Central went on an 8-2 run to start the second stanza to take a 21-19 lead. Zach Munson’s midrange jumper got the lead back for Guerin Catholic at 25-24, and Coach Pete Smith’s squad never trailed after that.
The Golden Eagles lead ballooned to 15 points in the fourth quarter, 61-46, but Franklin Central (9-8) never got closer than the final margin of seven points. Smith was happy that his team had their second-lowest turnover output of the season at seven.
“That’s been our big bugaboo much of the season, and especially the past two games, turnovers!” said Smith. “Tonight we valued the basketball much better against some good pressure defense.” He also said the Golden Eagles had very good shot selection until the last two minutes of the game. Consequently, Guerin Catholic shot 51 percent from the field, highlighted by making 16 of 27 field goal attempts in the final 16 minutes.
Returning from an injury that forced him to miss the second half of his team’s last-second loss at Heritage Christian Monday night, Jack Hansen played a great game, his coach said. Scoring consistently each quarter, the 6’7″ junior had 31 points and 10 rebounds.
Munson and Matthew Godfrey both finished with 13 points. Munson also grabbed nine rebounds, while Godfrey dished out seven assists.
The Golden Eagles play at Pendleton Heights next Friday night.
Guerin Catholic 71, Franklin Central 65
Guerin FG FT TP PF
Matthew Godfrey 5-13 0-0 13 1
Luke Godfrey 3-6 0-0 6 2
Jack Hansen 10-18 8-9 31 1
Zach Munson 6-11 0-0 13 1
Joey Weas 0-0 0-0 0 3
Kian Sills 2-4 1-3 6 0
Cameron Dixon 1-1 0-0 2 1
Will Morris 0-0 0-0 0 1
Andrew Sharpe 0-0 0-0 0 0
Drew Thieme 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 27-53 9-12 71 10
Score by Quarters
Franklin 13 11 18 23 – 65
Guerin 17 10 24 20 – 71
Guerin Catholic 3-point shooting (8-20) M. Godfrey 3-8, Hansen 3-6, Munson 1-3, Sills 1-2, L. Godfrey 0-1.
Guerin Catholic rebounds (32) Hansen 10, Munson 9, Sills 5, L. Godfrey 4, Dixon 1, Weas 1, team 2.