Franklin Regional dominates Latrobe in boys basketball rematch

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, February 1, 2022 | 10:10 PM

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How does a team lose by seven on the road and win by 32 at home against the same opponent?

“Our guys worked their butts off defensively,” said Franklin Regional coach Jesse Reed, whose Panthers split their season series with Latrobe in a big way, rolling to a 68-36 victory in Section 3-5A on Tuesday night in Murrysville.

The Panthers, who put up a season high for points — they were averaging just 47.6 — won for the fourth time in their last five attempts by flipping a close game on its side with a 14-0 run to close out the first half.

The momentum never left them from there. They outscored the Wildcats, 55-22, after the first quarter.

“I thought we took better care of the ball and controlled the tempo,” Reed said. “We’re getting better at getting in the flow earlier in games. We’re starting games better.”

Penn Hills (14-3, 7-2) and Gateway (11-4, 7-2) now are tied for first in Section 3, and Franklin Regional (7-11, 5-5) and Woodland Hills (8-11, 5-5) are knotted for third.

The top four make the WPIAL playoffs.

Latrobe (6-12, 2-7) led 14-13 after the first quarter but trailed 35-18 at the half.

The Panthers stretched the margin to 27 after back-to-back hoops by 6-foot-8 Max Leven before ballooning it to 30, to kickstart the mercy rule, in the fourth.

Senior guard Caden Smith scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the third, and junior Cam Rowell added 19, 12 in the first half.

“We came out and hit them early,” said Smith, who hit three 3-pointers. “Our 2-3 defense was good tonight. We’re playing harder, more to the best of our ability, and we got it done.”

Latrobe, which has one of the youngest team in 5A, was assessed a pregame technical because its scorebook did not have names for the officials to review in what they deemed an timely fashion.

A junior varsity game was played in an adjacent auxiliary gym, and Latrobe had seven double-rostered players in that game and the same scorekeeper. The game ran over, and they were narrowly “late” for warmups.

So Smith opened the game with two free throws in lieu of a jump ball.

Maybe that was a telltale sign of hiw the night would go.

“It was an odd game,” Latrobe coach Brad Wetzel said. “(Franklin Regional) took a slow game and made it really slow. They slowed it down and took us out of things we do. From the second quarter on, it was just odd. It turned on a dime.”

Latrobe beat Franklin Regional on its home floor earlier in the season, 55-48. The Wildcats made 24 of 34 free throws, and junior Landon Butler scored 25 (10 of 14 free throws) in that game.

Smith also had 21 in that game but fouled out.

This time, Butler was limited to six points.

Senior Chase Sickenberger led Latrobe with 10 points.

“We tried to make it tough on (Butler),” Reed said. “He’s such a tough scorer. I know he’ll bounce back from this.

“Latrobe is a tough team to defend because of all the stuff they run.”

Junior Jake Kimmich played well in the backcourt, distributing, scoring off the dribble and playing strong defense.

His feed to Leven for a layup led to a 52-35 advantage.

Sophomore guard Cooper Rankin banged in a 3-pointer for the 30-point spread at 59-28. His second 3 made it 66-32.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Franklin Regional, Latrobe