In what could be a preview of this season’s 13th-District title game a month from now, the Todd County Central Rebels saw two shots at the buzzer not go down in a hard-fought 39-38 setback to visiting Franklin-Simpson on Monday night.
Todd Central drops its third game in its last four to slip to 15-4 and 1-1 in district play. The Wildcats take the upper hand in the race for the top seed, improving to 3-0 against district competition with their third win in four tries.
Preston Moore scored all five of the Rebels’ 1st-quarter points while Jalen Briscoe put up four to help the Wildcats to an 8-5 advantage.
Franklin-Simpson stretched the lead to 17-9 after a layup by Briscoe, but the Rebels were back within three at 19-16 after Perez Whitlock closed the 1st-half scoring with a 3-pointer.
Preston Rager scored all five of his points in the 3rd quarter, including a corner 3 to give the Rebels a 25-23 advantage with 3:13 left in the frame.
The Wildcats began the 4th quarter with five straight points for Briscoe to take a 32-27 edge, but Whitlock put Todd Central back in front with a short jumper with 3:25 to play.
Trailing 36-33, Moore knocked down a clutch 3-pointer to tie the game. However, Gabe Jones answered with a 3 for his only points of the night to restore the Wildcats’ lead with just under a minute to play.
Trailing by three with :15 to go, the Rebels elected to go to Jamison Glass for a bucket in the lane and then foul. The strategy paid off, with Jones missing the front end of a one-and-one for Franklin-Simpson and the Rebels collecting the rebound. Out of a timeout, Todd Central got a good look at a 3 from the corner that bounced off. Rager rebounded and tried for the putback, but it wouldn’t fall and the Wildcats pulled down the rebound as time expired.
Only one player for each time reached double figures, with Franklin’s Briscoe leading all scorers with 23 and Moore finishing with 12 for the Rebels.
The teams are scheduled to do it again at Franklin-Simpson on Friday, but the Rebels have business at the All-A state tournament on Thursday that could delay the rematch.
Franklin-Simpson 8 11 8 12 — 39
Todd Central 5 11 11 11 — 38
Franklin-Simpson (9-6) — Briscoe 23, Vincent 6, Jones 5, G. Dickerson 3, M. Dickerson 2
Todd Central (15-4) — Moore 12, Glass 8, Andrews 5, Rager 5, Whitlock 5, Johnson 3
