Sports

Stoughton High Boys' Basketball Cruises Past Franklin

Stoughton came away with an 81-60 win Thursday at home, snapping Franklin's 10-game win streak, while extending their own win streak to seven games.

Statistics don’t always tell the whole story—but Thursday night they pretty much did.

Both and Franklin took 29 first-half shots. The Black Knights boys’ basketball team made 17 (58.6 percent) of theirs while the Panthers converted only eight (27.6 percent).

As a result, Stoughton built a 46-28 lead at the half. The discrepancy in shooting between the two teams continued in the second half, with the Black Knights winning 81-60 at home, snapping the Panthers’ 10-game win streak.

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In a battle between two of the top teams in the Hockomock League, Stoughton improves to 13-1, winners of seven straight. Franklin falls to 10-4.

“It’s been a couple of games since we’ve clicked on all cylinders like that where we had at least two guys knocking threes down and big guys grabbing rebounds and scoring on put backs,” Stoughton head coach John Gallivan said. “It was nice to see. Everyone’s a better coach when the ball is going in.”

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“We just wanted to come out strong, play defense, defend the basketball, and just get open looks for everyone on the court,” Aaron Calixte added.

, who had been ill, and didn’t practice on Wednesday, played at what Gallivan estimated to be at “80 to 85 percent,” and still scored 26 points, leading all scorers.

“He’s a physical specimen; he doesn’t get tired,” Gallivan said. “That’s a kid who had a stomach virus for two days this week, so imagine what he’s like when he’s completely healthy.”

After trading points in the opening minutes of the game, Stoughton started to pull away, taking a 22-15 lead into the second quarter.

The Black Knights extended that lead to 27-15 in the first minute of the second frame. Stoughton hit five three-pointers in the second and limited Franklin scoring threat Sam Bohmiller (8 first quarter points) to just three free throws, building the 18-point halftime advantage. Franklin’s 11 first-half free throws kept them in the game.

Franklin came out with a faster pace of play in the third, which disrupted Stoughton’s offense, but the Panthers didn’t take full advantage, outscoring the Black Knights by just two points, 16-14.

“It was a scary quarter because they really sped up the tempo and they did a good job forcing us to make some mistakes…taking shots that we couldn’t hit,” Gallivan said. “We were fortunate to maintain the lead in the third quarter and then I thought we settled down and ran the offense a little better in the fourth.

Any thoughts that Franklin, trailing 60-44 heading into the fourth, could pull off a comeback were soon put to bed.

Stoughton started the final quarter on a 9-0 run, highlighted by a Calixte three-pointer, and went on to win by 21.

Stoughton shot 53.6 percent for the game (30/56), while Franklin was held to 32.3 percent (21/65) shooting, as the Black Knights beat the Panthers for the .

In addition to Middleton’s 26, Calixte added 19 points and 8 assists. Steffan Jackson had 9 points and 2 blocks; Antonio Ferreira had six points and Joe Bunce-Grenon had five points.

continued his string of strong performances with 12 points and 13 rebounds.

“Ray’s just a monster,” Middleton said. “He boxes out [and] he’s so strong underneath the boards, so when he gets the ball there’s no stopping him.”

Franklin’s Bohmiller and Jason McKie both finished with 15-points to lead Franklin.

Stoughton returns to action Tuesday at . The Black Knights won the first matchup this season in Stoughton, 63-44.


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