Franklin Regional uses a little R&R to beat Hempfield

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Tuesday, December 12, 2023 | 10:13 PM

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Franklin Regional needed a little R&R.

No, not rest and relaxation. If there is a tired boys basketball team out there, it is not this one.

The Panthers went to Rowell and Rankin to keep their record perfect.

Seniors Cam Rowell and Cooper Rankin each scored 21 points as the Panthers moved to 5-0 with a 60-45 nonsection victory over Hempfield on Tuesday night at the Spartan Field House.

The Panthers love to get out and go. The faster the pace, the better.

They pushed the tempo early and had success getting to the rim for most of the night against the Spartans (1-4), who were stagnant at times on offense but defended hard well into the fourth.

“Cam, me and a bunch of us have been playing together since the third grade,” Rankin said. “That’s eight or nine years together. We knew what the other can do.”

Franklin Regional came in averaging 61.2 points and allowing 43. The Panthers won their annual Mike Rettger Tournament with a pair of wins, clipping Seneca Valley to stay unbeaten.

They opened their latest win with a 7-0 run and, despite an early push from Hempfield, never gave away the lead.

The Panthers took a 28-17 advantage into halftime, ending the first half with an 11-4 run.

Rowell scored seven straight points to push the lead to 27-15.

Junior Connor Crossey’s putback stretched the margin to 20 (39-19) in the third, and Rankin’s three-point play to close the quarter, which followed his fast-break layup, made it 48-27.

The Panthers scored 20 in the third, 15 from Rowell and Rankin.

Crossey finished with 10 points. He made two 3-pointers.

Junior Dylan Firmstone made a layup at the first-half buzzer for Hempfield.

Panthers coach Jesse Reed was pleased to see his team stay unbeaten but did not appreciate two fourth-quarter technical fouls called on his team within a minute of each other in the fourth.

“We played great for three quarters,” Reed said. “We competed, we defended, and we rebounded. I am extremely happy with the first three quarters. The fourth quarter, that is not us.”

Rowell drove the lane for a layup to give the Panthers their largest lead, at 52-29, with 6:58 left in the fourth.

“We got some stops on defense and I love the pace we played at,” Reed said.

Hempfield, with a razor-thin margin between its points-per-game and defensive averages (56.7 to 56.2), had a better fourth to close the gap to 12 (57-45) with an 11-1 run.

Firmstone put back a rebound and sophomore Danny Husenits made a 3-pointer for the Spartans.

Junior Drew Gordon led Hempfield with 11 points and sophomore Dom Detruf added nine.

“I thought we were going to win tonight,” Hempfield coach Bill Swan said. “I thought we’d come out and compete.

“Rankin came out firing. They got downhill. We were passive. … The better team won tonight.”

Franklin Regional will host Butler (2-1), the preseason No. 1-ranked team in Class 6A, on Friday night.

“That game should tell us a lot about where we are,” Reed said. “It’s a good gauge.”

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

Tags: Franklin Regional, Hempfield