ATTLEBORO, Mass. — Wyatt Herndon fired a corner 3-pointer in front of Franklin’s student section, watched it swish through the net and then turned to flex for his friends who had made the trip.
The decisive shot with less than a minute remaining stamped No. 2 Franklin’s 58-53 road victory over No. 7 Attleboro on Friday night as the Panthers cemented their place atop the Hockomock League and continued to show why they’re one of the state’s best, pushing their undefeated start to 18-0. Inside a raucous road environment, they found the finishing touch.
A month ago, Franklin won the first meeting against Attleboro, but it came with a bit of an asterisk; Blue Bombardiers star LaDainian Rodrigues didn’t play. The junior guard was back in Friday’s rematch, and there was belief that Attleboro would get even at full strength in its home gym. But in another meeting of the top two teams in the MIAA’s Division 1 power rankings, the Panthers left no doubt.
“I would lie to you if I said I didn’t know what the rankings were. That would be a total fib,” Franklin head coach CJ Neely said. “We’re excited. … This is the type of atmosphere we’re going to have to face this year if we want to go back to where we want to go back and do the things we want to do this year.
“I thought our guts were huge tonight. Multiple times, teams would go away with some of the runs they put together and some of the baskets they were making, but the resiliency of our guys was really impressive tonight.”
