TAUNTON — From the opening tip, Franklin proved its identity as the premier team in Eastern Mass.
Bradley Herndon scored 13 points, eight rebounds, and six assists while Sean O’Leary added 16 points of his own as No. 3 Franklin defeated No. 2 Catholic Memorial, 66-52, in the Div. 1 state semifinals on Tuesday night at Taunton High School.
Franklin (25-1) will play Worcester North or Xaverian in the Division 1 state final this weekend at the Tsongas Center in Lowell.
“This is amazing,” Herndon said. “Just looking around, our whole school was here. This weekend is just another opportunity to prove to ourselves, our community, and the whole MIAA what we’re really about it.”
For most of the night the Panthers had control. They were able to take the Knights off the dribble consistently, including a notable sequence when Herndon went to the basket three times in a row. If Franklin’s first shot did not go down, an offensive rebound often followed with the Panthers totaling 22 offensive boards.
An O’Leary three-pointer gave Franklin its largest lead of the night at 17, 59-42 with four minutes left. Catholic Memorial though made one final run.
Sharpshooter Ryan Higgins – face guarded by Caden Sullivan for the entire game – buried his first triple before freshman star Josiah Adamson scored four straight as part of a 10-0 run to trim the deficit to 59-52. Franklin, with four seniors on the floor, remained poised and Andrew O’Neill buried a three-pointer from the corner to boost the lead back to double digits with just under two minutes left.
“Right from the start our effort was terrific,” Franklin coach CJ Neely said. “We’ve been to the state title before, hopefully we can finish the deal for once. We’ll celebrate this one though and worry about that tomorrow or the next day.”
Henry DiGiorgio buried two three-pointers in the first quarter and hit his third moments into the second quarter to give Franklin a 29-19 advantage.
The Knights made their move before the break with Adamson scoring six points while Aiden Pires added a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 33-29 at the half.
The third quarter belonged to Franklin. An O’Neill trey stretched the lead to seven. Moments later, Herndon came through with his back-breaking sequence finishing at the rim on three consecutive trips. Sullivan then put the exclamation point on, putting home an offensive rebound to give Franklin a 53-37 late in the third.
