03-13-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
CAMPBELL HILL - The memorable 2020-21 season for the Cobden Appleknockers is over as they traveled home from Trico on Saturday after adding another win to the resume.

Coach Wendell Wheeler and his club took care of business in a 58-43 victory over the Pioneers.

The season finale, with no postseason, completed an 18-0 campaign but it also saw the end of a varsity career of 6-foot-7 senior Noah Franklin.

Franklin, during his final prep contest, scored 28 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead Cobden to it's 29th victory in its last 30 games.

During the first half when he notched his 13th point of the game, the senior reached 2,000 career points.

Franklin, who has signed to play college basketball at Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, had already accumulated 1,000 career rebounds and 500 career assists.

He was dominant on the defensive end as he led the team with 15 rebounds.

“It's been really crazy. I feel like later on down the line when I look back on this it will be a reminder of how hard the guys have worked and the companionship we built in these crazy times, not being certain of anything and having a lot of fun,” said Noah Franklin. “Getting to practice and work hard with these guys every day has been a lot of fun and I'm going to miss that. We made some good memories.”

The contest was no contest as the Appleknockers took control early and never trailed in a win that wasn't as close as the final tally.

Six-foot-six sophomore Tyler Franklin, Noah's younger brother, celebrated his 16th birthday by adding 19 points to the win.

Having to deal with the uncertainty of the season, Coach Wheeler talked about how his kids handled this unconventional season.

“One of the things with the boys was the way it went from the fall, coming into the school year we thought we would have a regular season, we'd be back. Then they (state) kept having meetings and pushing it back two weeks and they kept moving it around. Then it was you could play so many games but no tournament. The kids were put through the ringer,” said Coach Wheeler. “To be able to keep working and stay focused really helped us. We kept emphasizing about effort and attention to detail. The culture we tried to instill in the program and your best player is your hardest worker. Any coach will tell you that is a great foundation.”

Trico closed their season at 2-12 with senior Daniel Vogt leading the Pioneers attack with 15 points on five made 3-pointers.

Senior Kaden Wilson added 14 points for Coach Dan King's squad.

The statistics were overwhelming in favor of Cobden.

Coach Wheeler's club were an outstanding 20-of-31 from the floor overall and 4-of-6 from the arc.

All four of the 3's were made by Tyler Franklin.

Behind Noah Franklin the rebounding edge went to Cobden 26-23, which is also a bit misleading.

Missing just 11 total field goal attempts, there weren't many offensive rebounding chances as they grabbed just three of those boards.

The reason behind the close final score had more to do with the Appleknockers going just 14-of-24 from the foul line to go with 13 turnovers, five of which were in the fourth quarter after the outcome was laid to rest.

Trico launched a lot of shots without much success.

The Pioneers finished 15-of-52 overall, 9-of-26 from the 3-point line while committing 11 turnovers.

With just over a minute gone in the game, Tyler Franklin nailed down the first of his four 3's from the left wing.

This was part of a 12-3 opening run for the visitors.

Noah added a pair of free throws and a score in the lane and Tyler connected again from 20 feet.

Following a 3-pointer from Trico's Vogt, the Franklin's finished the quarter with five more points for a 17-6 lead.

Noah Franklin's onslaught on the inside continued in the second quarter as he converted on consecutive trips but four turnovers from the Appleknockers and six points from Trico on buckets by junior Logan Cleland, senior Peyton Lovel and Wilson cut the lead to just 21-12 with just under two minutes left in the half.

Cobden's Sipriano Zamora grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to send the teams to intermission at 23-12 Appleknockers.

After giving up a score in the lane by Cleland, Cobden put Trico in the rear view mirror.

Eleven consecutive points, with both Franklin's scoring, gave the Appleknockers the momentum they needed to finish off Trico.

Tyler added two more 3-pointers and Noah scored in the lane while being fouled which turned into a three-point play.

Six-foot-ten junior Elliott Lowndes grabbed a rebound for a put back as the lead ballooned to 34-14 with 4:39 showing on the third quarter clock.

Lowndes scored again in the paint and Tyler Franklin added a lay in on an inbounds play to trigger the next scoring run.

Noah Franklin padded his stats with another in close score and 3-of-4 free throws late in the quarter.

Trico nailed down three more 3-pointers in the third quarter, two by Vogt and one by Kaden Wilson.

It turned out to be the Appleknockers' best quarter as they hit 8-of-12 shots and committed zero turnovers as they led 46-27.

A combination of missed free throws by Cobden and Trico 3-pointers closed the eventual final score.

The Pioneers nailed four 3-point shots in the final eight minutes and Cobden went just 6-of-13 from the foul line.

Wilson added two of the 3-pointers in the fourth quarter while Vogt and sophomore Gavin Wilks added one each.

However Noah added a drive to the basket for a score and Tyler took a pass from Lowndes for a baseline move for a two-handed dunk for a 58-42 advantage with :58 to go.

A technical foul was called on Lowndes but Trico's freshman Brady Heins missed both free throws.

Trico's Damian Williams hit 1-of-2 free throws to close the scoring.

“Give them (Trico) credit. We got up 24 on them and they kept firing up 3's at us. They hit some bombs,” said Coach Wheeler. “They came at us and we missed some free throws where we should have answered their run.”

Wheeler reached the 400-win plateau earlier in the season and reflected on how he was blessed to coach some great players and to see Franklin put up the career numbers.

“After getting to coach Nick Hill (former ABV “Player of the Year” and current SIU football head coach) and watching what Nick did. I coached a young man named Scott Cain at Patoka. I've been blessed to have been around some great players,” said Coach Wheeler. “The thing about high school basketball is a lot of guys score. But to score, and rebound and be your best passer and lead you in assists that says a lot.”

Cobden (58) – Zamora 1 0 3-6 5, N. Franklin 9 0 10-16 28, T. Franklin 3 4 1-2 19, Eck 1 0 0-0 2, Lowndes 2 0 0-0 4, Funes 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-16, 3FG-4, FT-14-24, PF-12.
Trico (43) - Heins 0 0 0-2 0, Wilks 0 1 0-0 3, Wilson 2 3 1-2 14, Brooks 0 0 0-0 0, Vogt 0 5 0-0 15, Cleland 1 0 2-2 4, Compton 0 0 0-0 0, Koehn 1 0 0-1 2, Williams 0 0 1-2 1, Coleman 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-6, 3FG-9, FT-4-9, PF-20.
Fouled Out – Cleland - Trico.
Technical Fouls – Lowndes - Cobden.