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Franklin
Monroe junior Trey Mong battles hard for the ball during the
first half against Southeastern.
Mong finshed with six points and eight
hard earned rebounds. CNO photo by George Starks
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Defense pays off for FM
Jets rise to
the occasion
By George Starks
TROY- For some teams, the best offense is a good defense.
In the case of Franklin Monroe, that could not be truer as the Jets
prevailed in a defensive battle to post a 43-37 victory over the
Southeastern Trojans in their sectional semi-final game at Troy
Wednesday.
Holding a slight two point edge at the half (21-19) FM and Southeastern
combined for 10 points of offense in the third quarter, making the
defense look that much better.
“Our defense was pretty solid the whole game,” said Jets coach Troy
Meyers. “We had a couple of mental errors that we were able to
overcome. Southeastern went to the post early. The whole first half,
they were going post entry and we should’ve worked some things there to
try and stop it. We didn’t stop it the second half but we limited it
and it gave us the opportunity to rebound the ball. You can’t rebound
if the ball is going through. They were missing some shots and we
rebounding the ball better in the second half.”
While the Trojans were busy pounding the ball into the paint,
Southeastern never attacked the rim from the perimeter and Myers
credits his defense with the outside game of the Trojans never taking
affect.”
“I was and wasn’t surprised that they never tried to open it us against
us,” said Myers. “Other than the three that Mercer (Duncan) had that
was wide open, I thought we covered it up pretty well. They tried to go
iso out (isolation) a few times and did get some scores but credit our
defense; I thought we were spot on the entire game.”
Even though Travis Feitshans only scored nine points in the game, none
loomed larger that the points he scored from the foul line in the
fourth quarter.
“I cannot say enough about Travis,” said Myers. “He knew what we needed
down the stretch. It wasn’t a three. It wasn’t a forced shot but it was
a paint touch, a block and if not, I’m getting to the line and he did
that. He hit five of six down the stretch and I’m extremely proud of
him.”
With Feitshans and Trey Mong seemingly not being able to buy a basket,
it was Marcus Horner that picked up the slack as he dropped in 13 for
the Jets.
“He’s our captain and he stepped up n the fourth quarter,” Myers
pointed out. “His basketball sense said that he was going to get to the
rim and no one was going to stop him. It’s awesome when you can coach
guys like that.”
Franklin Monroe will move on to play Tri-Village for the sectional
title Saturday night.
The two team have met twice this season with the Patriots winning both
meetings, 47-44 (12/7) and 41-29 (12/29). Both games were played at
Franklin Monroe.
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