Surprise, surprise: Franklin Central into Marion County final for first time since 2007

With a win Saturday night — and it will take the best performance of the season — the Franklin Central basketball program will notch its fourth win of the week.

No. 4 would match last year’s season total for Franklin Central, which finished 4-19. Josh Moriarty was one of the bright spots on that team, the leading returning scorer for the Flashes as a senior. And it was Moriarty who had the ball in his hands, Franklin Central nursing a 1-point lead on Warren Central on Friday night in a semifinal game of the Marion County tournament with 4 minutes, 45 seconds remaining.

Moriarty let it fly. Splash. That shot gave Franklin Central its biggest lead (the Flashes did not lead at all until the fourth quarter) on its way to a 55-49 win over Warren Central at Southport Fieldhouse.

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Franklin Central (8-6) will play Class 4A second-ranked Lawrence North (13-0) in the Marion County championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at Southport.

“It means a lot,” Moriarty said of Franklin Central’s first championship appearance winning the title in 2007. “But it still doesn’t mean anything if we don’t win it all.”

Lawrence North put away North Central early in the second half on its away to a 73-53 win in Friday’s first semifinal game. The Wildcats defeated Franklin Central 68-51 on Dec. 28, though that was a 2-point game at halftime.

Franklin Central had easily the biggest crowd of the four semifinal teams Friday night and those fans made some noise as the Flashes ran to the locker room after securing the win. The Flashes trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half before chipping away and cutting Warren Central’s lead to seven by the end of the third quarter and two points by the start of the fourth.

“We felt like we weren’t really playing our best basketball in the first half,” said first-year coach Kyle Ballard, who was coaching against the Flashes’ coach the past four seasons, Criss Beyers, in his first season back at Warren Central. “But we were still in striking distance. That was the message. There wasn’t a lot in the way of making change, we just had to be better. One thing I’ll give our guys credit for is they fight. They don’t quit; that’s been a big point of growth for us this year.”

Moriarty finished with a team-leading 14 points. Junior guard Dante Edwards added 12 points and standout sophomore EJ Hazelett had eight. Franklin Central slugged it out with Warren Central in a back-and-forth fourth quarter until Moriarty’s 3-pointer provided a four-point cushion.

The lead got to as big as six points but Warren Central battled back, getting the ball back after Franklin Central missed a 3-pointer with a three-point lead. Beyers called timeout with 34.8 seconds remaining to set up a shot for Robert Walker from the right wing. It just missed off the back of the rim and Franklin Central secured the rebound.

Moriarty, fittingly, hit two free throws with 14.7 seconds left to put the game on ice. Warren Central (8-6) was led by 6-5 junior Jevon Guess, who had 17 points and 13 rebounds. Walker added 10 points and Keshaun Harlan added nine before fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

Franklin Central made some noise earlier in the week by knocking off defending state champion — and county champion — Ben Davis.

“We just kept hammering away,” Ballard said. “The guys have done a good job of learning from positive and negative experiences we’ve had this season and they just stay in it, stay together. You could see the excitement and see them talking to each other. Against good teams it’s not going to be pretty and not going to be easy. Hopefully it’s something we can build on.”

To build on into a county championship will be a tall task. Lawrence North showed why it has won 13 consecutive games to start the season with a dominating win over North Central (8-4). Kobi Bowles led the Wildcats with 15 points and four rebounds and Azavier Robinson added 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. Sophomore Jamar Thomas provided a big spark off the bench with 13 points and four rebounds.

“It started with our defensive effort tonight,” said Lawrence North coach Chris Giffin, who won four Marion County titles as the Wildcats’ girls’ coach. “We started out full-court man and played that the majority of the first half but were basically half court in the second half. But we never went to any gimmick stuff because we were just that locked in.”

Lawrence North led 32-21 at halftime before stretching the lead to 22 points late in the third quarter. Tim Williams led North Central with 16 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots and Jaxson Bell added 15 points and nine rebounds.

The Wildcats will be looking to win their first Marion County title since going back-to-back in 2020 and ’21, the final two of coach Jack Keefer’s 10 county championships.

Ballard knows the challenge that awaits his team on Saturday.

“Hopefully we’ve grown since last time we played,” Ballard said. “We had a five or six-minute stretch that was rough. Bad things do happen, and it does get ugly. But I think we’ve learned to fight through that to play the next play and it’s helped us get to this championship.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.