In a battle of the p’s, Paint pounded Perimeter Friday at Franklin-Simpson.
     By controlling the paint, the home team won with surprising ease over the perimeter-oriented Panthers of Russellville in the finals of the 13 ^th District boys basketball tournament.
     While RHS was content to fire up 24 three-point shots, Franklin’s players lived in the lane. As a result, Franklin dominated the boards and the foul line. You don’t shoot many free throws when no one is close to you when you shoot; RHS players, coaches and fans were reminded painfully.
     Franklin hit 13 more free throws than Russellville shot and pulled down 14 more rebounds in the Wildcats’ 68-51 win.
     It was the fourth straight district championship win for the Wildcats, all against Russellville. The first two were very close, by one point in 2006 and five the next year. The last two have been a little lopsided, with the Cats winning 57-40 last years.
     This margin was surprising, since Russellville won at Franklin in the first meeting between the two in January. That night, however, F-S was still reeling from the loss for the season of its best player, junior guard Mickey Lewis. This week tournament-goers were first-hand witnesses of the emergence of 6-4 junior guard Terry Bryant, who followed a 24-point performance against Logan County Monday with a 28-point, 10-rebound outing against the Panthers. He went 8 of 13 from the field and 10 of 11 from the line.
     Franklin also has a couple of bigger guys patrolling the paint in senior center Jim Murphree and sophomore forward J.T. Curtis. Ryan Randolph came off the bench to plague the Panthers, too. They combined for 13 rebounds and 21 points. Franklin’s strength could also have been a factor with Murphree and guard Courtney Dalcourt both Division I football signees.
     In Russellville’s offense, junior Justin Bollenbecker, the only Panther with the height to match Franklin’s first line, sets up outside the arc, ready to shoot three-pointers. He was successful early, hitting 3 of his first 5 attempts from long range, but only 1 of his last 5 fell in the second half. He finished with a team-high 13 points but had only 2 rebounds, both on the defensive board.
     That left only hard-working but shorter Trevor Clark and quick jumping but thin Charleston Sydnor to go against the Wildcat posts. Those two plus strong sophomore guards Damian Elam and D.J. Quarles each finished with team-high 4 rebounds. Franklin got more defensive rebounds (28) than RHS managed on both ends (25).
     Still the Panthers kept it close in the first half. After trailing 13-8 entering the second quarter, RHS took a 23-22 lead on a 3-pointer by senior Daniel Pardue, following a goal by teammate Kevin Temple. Franklin led only 24-23 at the intermission, and Russellville was very much in contention.
     Panther Devonta Bryant’s goal made the F-S lead only three early in the third quarter, but the Wildcats scored 11 of the game’s next 13 points to go up 41-29.
     Daniel Pardue gave the Panthers some hope when he came up with a loose ball and then hit another 3-pointer on Clark’s assist, but Franklin led 42-32 going into the fourth quarter. Additionally, Elam was saddled with his fourth foul late in the third quarter.
     With Franklin leading 46-32, Bollenbecker got a trey to fall for the Panthers, but the Wildcats’ Terry Bryant hit a 3-pointer of his own 10 seconds later. Franklin led by 16 three times, but Russellville made one last run when Clark scored on an assist from Quarles, followed by Quarles’ layup and free throw to cut the lead to 60-48 with 1:24 remaining. Franklin scored the next five points to put the game out of reach.
     Backing up Terry Bryant’s 28 points were Curtis with 11 and Jerrell Wickware with 9. Dalcourt had 7 points, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 rebounds.
     Quarles was the only other double-figure scorer besides Bollenbecker with 10.
     Coach David Clark’s Wildcats hit 60.9 percent from the field in the second half to finish 53.5 percent for the game. They were 20 of 25 at the line for 80 percent.
     Coach Dennis Pardue’s Panthers hit 35.7 percent from the field for the game, hitting a slightly better percentage (37.5 percent) from 3-point distance than from inside the circle (34.4 percent). Russellville was 2 of 7 at the line.
      Both teams head to the 4^th Region Tournament at Diddle Arena on the WKU campus starting Saturday. Bollenbecker will not be available after being injured in a single-vehicle automobile accident Saturday.
Score by quarters:  1) F-S 13-8, 2) 24-23, 3) 42-32, Final)  Franklin-Simpson 68, Russellville 51
RHS (51)  Justin Bollenbecker 13, D.J. Quarles 10, Damian Elam 6, Daniel Pardue 6, Charleston Sydnor 5, Kevin Temple 5, Trevor Clark 4, Devonta Bryant 2, Neblett, Hampton
F-S (68)  Terry Bryant 28, J.T. Curtis 11, Jerrell Widkware 9, Courtney Dalcourt 7, Jim Murphree 4, Jalen Bell 4, Ryan Randolph 3, Joe Flippin 2, Fuller, Deaks