Franklin leads St. Edward to Westminster title
It took just four games at the Westminster Christian Thanksgiving Tournament for it to be become abundantly clear who is the top dog for the St. Edward boys basketball team.
Senior AJ Franklin completed his breakout week on Saturday with his best game yet as he scored 29 points to lead the Green Wave to a 55-41 win over the host Warriors in the championship game. Franklin finished with 86 points total in the 4 games, accounting for 36 percent of the Green Waves scoring, to earn the outstanding player award for the tournament.
"He sure is a nice weapon to have," said St. Edward assistant coach Larry Gay, filling in for head coach PJ White, who is an assistant for the Batavia football team that won the Class 7A state title on Saturday. "We don't call any specific plays for him, but he is figuring it out fast how to score. Last year he would kind of wait back and wouldn't really press it when it came to scoring. This year he is going right after it."
St. Edward stumbled out the gate and fell behind 10-1 midway through the first quarter, but the next two trips down the floor Franklin hit a pair of medium range shots to get the Green Wave jump started.
"Coach just kept telling us we had to pick it up," Franklin said. "I know I started really slow and knew I had to do more of my part to help the team. Everybody just started playing faster and stronger and we were able to get it going."
The Green Waved continued on their roll in the second quarter and eventually took the lead for good 19-17 on a basket in the lane by Franklin. Sophomore Sebastion Oquendo followed with a 3-pointer to give St. Edward a 22-17 halftime advantage.
The Green Wave continued to pull away in the second half as Franklin took over the game. He scored 12 points in the third quarter and 7 more in the fourth quarter, including 3 second half 3-pointers. Franklin shot 11 of 21 from the field in the game.
The Green Wave bench made another strong contribution. Oquendo came off the bench to finish with 9 points and Syndey Muhammad had 5 points. In the tournament the St. Edward reserves combined to account for 63 points.
"One of the nice things about this tournament is you get a chance to see all the kids play," Gay said. "The way the bench contributed positively every game was a huge factor. We have a nice little pool of talent here and winning this gives our confidence a big boost."
Along with Franklin, Will Gaston and reserve Collan O'Neill were named to the all-tournament team for St. Edward.
Making the all-tournament team for Westminster were Ben Versluys and Will Kmieciak. Versluys had a team-high 24 points against St. Edward and finished the tournament with a team-best 70 points in the 4 games. The Warriors fished the tournament 3-1.
"A little disappointed to come up short again," Westminster coach Andy Zielinski said. "This is our third year getting to the championship game and not winning it. But I was proud of the kids' effort. We just still have a lot of things to work on in practice. I think we are still searching for an identity right now."