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Boys Basketball: Flyers hold on to beat Chargers

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It may not have been the prettiest game they will ever play, but the Flyers got what they wanted – a “W.” 

Franklin County’s basketball team held on to beat Bullitt East 60-55 Tuesday night in its season opener at FCHS. 

“We made a lot of mistakes,” FCHS coach Scott Chalk said. “We turned the ball over too much. We got a little careless with it. We didn’t shoot the ball especially well from some people that normally would.”

The Flyers had 24 turnovers in the game, but did manage to have three players in double digits in scoring. Senior Vance Hall led the way with 16 points followed by Eric Meyer with 15. Senior Bryce Burton tacked on 11. 

“Offensively, we’re not very smooth yet,” Chalk said. “That’s to be expected. We have one starter back on varsity (Hall) and he’s just had the flu, so he had no legs tonight. You could tell that on all his shots. He missed a bunch of bunnies that Vance wouldn’t normally miss. He had no legs.”

Franklin County’s defense forced the Chargers to commit 21 turnovers in the game and often held Bullitt East to only one shot per possession. The Flyers edged the Chargers in rebounding 32-21. 

“I thought we played really good defense,” Chalk said. “We held them to 55 – that’s even with some crazy late threes that they threw in. I thought we did a good job defensively.”

The Flyers led 23-15 at halftime and were in need of some breathing room. FCHS got just that as it outscored the Chargers 15-8 in the opening six minutes of the third quarter to take a 38-23 lead. 

But then the Chargers went on a tear of their own, outscoring the Flyers 9-2 to end the third and cut the lead to seven. 

Part of that run was forcing the Flyer defense to foul by driving to the basket – something the Chargers didn’t do in the first half. Bullitt East only went to the line twice in the first half, but managed to find the charity stripe nine times hitting 15-of-17 free throws in the second half.

“They started trying to take the ball to the hole,” Chalk said. “(Head coach Troy Barr) called timeout at one point when we got a 12- or 14-point lead and said ‘OK, put your head down and start driving to the basket,’ which was a good idea. They had to try and get to the free throw line and from that point on, they shot a lot of free throws.

“That’s to their credit for being smart,” Chalk added. “That gets the referees involved and gives them a chance to look at some calls. If they are just standing around and passing it, there’s nothing to call. They did a good job of attacking the basket.”

The Flyers built on their lead in the fourth quarter behind the 3-point shooting of Meyer and the hustle of Burton and fellow senior Lyndon McKee – who finished with eight points. 

Both Burton and McKee were sparks for the Flyers on both sides of the ball. Whenever it appeared that the Chargers might have the upper hand, McKee would pull down a key rebound or Burton would draw a charge. 

“Those guys were solid,” Chalk said of the senior duo. “We have a lot of interchangeable parts, we just have to get used to playing some of those different positions.”

Meyer was 5-for-5 from behind the arc in the second half – 5-of-6 overall. 

“He’s been shooting great,” Chalk said. “He was 7-out-of-12 at Anderson County during a scrimmage earlier this year. So he can definitely shoot it.”

The Flyers built up as much as a 10-point lead a few times in the fourth quarter, but just couldn’t shake the Chargers. With just over five minutes left in the game, Bullitt East 10-5 runs to cut the lead to three, 53-50, with 1:30 left. 

But late free throws from Burton and Hall sealed the game for the Flyers. 

The now 1-0 Flyers get a little time to work on their offense and smooth out the wrinkles before taking on Clay County Saturday in the Battle of the Bluegrass at the Frankfort Convention Center. Tip-off is set for 6:45 p.m.

FRANKLIN CO. (60) – Vance Hall 16, Eric Meyer 15, Bryce Burton 11, Lyndon McKee 8, Michael Samples 6, Will Bell 4.

 BULLITT EAST (55) – Derek Jones 14, Cory Washburn 12, Brandon Alphin 11, Rusty Troutman 10, Cody Mattingly 2, Ryne McMullen 2, Kory Cofield 2, Adam Edge 2.