Franklin Tournament: Top Performers
Franklin hosted a two-day tournament at home this past weekend, with the Quakers, Aloha, Centennial, and Mountainside each playing two games. Here’s a recap of the action of the two games played on Saturday. Franklin 66, Mountainside 51 After a…
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Continue ReadingFranklin hosted a two-day tournament at home this past weekend, with the Quakers, Aloha, Centennial, and Mountainside each playing two games. Here’s a recap of the action of the two games played on Saturday.
Franklin 66, Mountainside 51
After a tough win over Aloha on Friday night, the Quakers had a bit of an easier time against Mountainside as they rode 80 percent shooting from the field and a career night from senior Taylor Pomeroy to the victory. Franklin took an early lead in the first half, and fought through some defensive pressure from the Mavericks in the second half. The Quakers are now 4-2, with the four wins already doubling the two wins they had the entire season last year.
“We are so far ahead of where we were even at the end of last year,” said Franklin head coach Scott Aker. “The kids have really bought into what we are doing and are playing hard. We’re pretty happy with where we are at right now, we just want to build on it and keep on going.”
Aloha 59, Centennial 45
It wasn’t particularly a work of art, but Aloha used tough defense and a balanced team-oriented offensive attack to get past Centennial in the first game of the day. The Warriors really woke up on both ends of the floor in the second half, getting much of their offense in transition. With the win, Aloha sits at a somewhat surprising 5-2 record.
“It was good to be able to bounce back on the second day of the tournament,” said Aloha head coach David Saultz. “For the most part our effort and our energy was pretty good. The kids have bought into the style of play and we’ve got a really close knit group. We’re just working on getting better every day and we feel like we’re making progress.”
Here are the top performers from the two games on Saturday:
Taylor Pomeroy (2019 Franklin) – Pomeroy was easily the top performer on the day in both games and it was one of the best nights he’s had in his career. The 6-foot-2 senior tallied a career-high 32 points and 11 rebounds, shooting 11-for-15 from the field including 4-for-6 from three-point range, with 21 of those points were in the first half. While he obviously scored a lot of points, Pomeroy wasn’t selfishly gunning but rather taking what the defensive gave him and ended up scoring at all three levels. Pomeroy is getting a little bit of D3 recruiting interest but it’s a level he’s certainly worthy of hearing from at this point in time. We’ll have an update posted on him soon.
Murray Renick (2019 Franklin) – Junior big man Tucker Pellicci was not with the team (and will be out until late December according to Aker) so Renick needed to step up inside and the 6-foot-4 senior did so in a big way. Renick has a hefty build – he’s the size of a linebacker – so as you would expect, he was tough on the boards and with interior defense. Offensively, he has a fairly nice touch and scored 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting. Renick isn’t a go-to guy in the post by any means but is a great complimentary player when playing alongside Pellicci.
Mitch Rose (2020 Mountainside) – Mountainside has several guys that can shoot the three but Rose is one of the few that can really create off the dribble. The 6-foot junior was very aggressive offensively, taking a few threes but mainly attacking the basket, ending up with 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting. Rose was also extremely active on the defensive end, playing passing lanes and coming up with at least four steals that led to some Mountainside baskets on the other end.
Nzube Mekkam (2020 Mountainside) – The 6-foot-1 junior didn’t start the game but definitely made an impact, especially in the second half on the defensive side of the ball. After Franklin’s Pomeroy racked up 21 first half points, Mekkam took him as his individual defensive assignment and played some serious on-the-ball defense. He stuck to Pomeroy like glue in an Avery Bradley-like fashion, helping limit the senior’s scoring output. Mekkam scored a little on the offense end too, hitting a three and a couple of buckets near the hoop.
Andrew Ingalls (2020 Mountainside) – Ingalls was limited by foul trouble the entire game so we didn’t get a chance to fully see what the 6-foot-7 junior was capable of doing on this night. But when he did get some touches inside, he finished strong around the basket and also grabbing rebounds on both ends.
Cobi Wilson (2019 Aloha) – Aloha very much runs a team concept offensively so there’s not one player who is going to get double digit points every night. But one guy who is going to put up numbers in all sorts of different categories is going to be Wilson. The 6-foot-3 senior didn’t have but two points against Centennial but was grabbing boards, dishing out assists, nabbing steals, and even blocking shots. Wilson is the kind of player who doesn’t have to be scoring in order to make an impact on the game and that was certainly the case on Saturday. We’ll have an update posted on him soon.
Jimmie Barton (2020 Centennial), Nate Caro (2020 Centennial), and Travis Johnson (2021 Centennial) – It’s clearly a rebuilding year for head coach John Poetsch’s team but there are some young guards that will get plenty of experience. Barton, a 5-foot-9 junior, played extremely tough and hard, canning three threes and working hard on defense. Caro, a 5-foot-8 junior, also showed a decent touch from the outside and was an effective rebounder for his size. Finally Johnson, a 6-foot sophomore, was very active on the boards on both ends and took it to the basket fearlessly in scoring a team-high 12 points and grabbing seven second half rebounds. Barton ended up with 12 points, Johnson with 12, and Caro with 10.