The New Franklin boys won an overtime slugfest against area rival Harrisburg Monday night 69-62 on their home court.

The game marked the second win in a row for New Franklin against Harrisburg after the two Bulldog teams battled it out for the Glasgow Tournament title on Dec. 2.

“I think it was different from the first game,” New Franklin coach Jim Schlotzhauer said about Monday’s overtime win. “I don’t think the pace was quite as fast. It seemed like both teams tried to slow it down a little bit and execute a little bit better. There were a few little spells where it kind of got wild.”

Wild indeed. Both teams played their blazingly fast styles in a physical game that saw four players foul out. For Harrisburg coach Kyle Fisher, losing two critical rebounders, Wyatt Lind and Trace Combs, in overtime made a significant difference in the outcome. New Franklin was able to keep possession of the ball with offensive rebounds and make just enough free throws to pull ahead in the final minute.

“When Trace and Wyatt both go out there in overtime—that’s our two leading rebounders—it takes a lot of our rebounding away,” Fisher said. “We didn’t get the big boards we needed there at the end. We missed two defensive boards on free throws in overtime; on free throws that led to at least four points. That’s a big difference in the ball game. That’s two possessions that they shouldn’t have had and that we should have had.”

Those offensive rebounds were especially important for New Franklin, which missed more than half its free throws (5-for-11) in the four-minute overtime period.

“Free throws have been our Achilles’ heel, to be honest. We’re not shooting well as a team. In big games like that, we’ve got to do a better job of hitting free throws,” Schlotzhauer said. “But for the most part, we really had some big rebounds. And we got a couple of and-ones where we actually made a free throw. So those were big plays in the game.”

For Harrisburg, just getting to overtime was an achievement after getting off to a slow start against the home team.

New Franklin came out hot, setting the pace and lighting up the scoreboard from the arc. Senior Tanner Bishop and junior Ryan Hundley quickly made it a 6-0 game in the opening minutes. Bishop would go on to hit two more threes in the first quarter.

Harrisburg got on the board from the free-throw line but didn’t score its first field goal until three-and-a-half minutes in on a shot from senior Hayven Samuels.

“New Franklin’s a really good environment,” Fisher said. “They’re obviously a really good team, and they’ve got good fans, and it’s a great atmosphere. We’re used to playing in loud gyms and big-time atmospheres. I thought our guys handled it pretty well after that initial four or five minutes.”

Harrisburg would have the last say from 3-point range in the first quarter. After trailing by as much as nine points, the Dawgs brought the score within three points on a long 3-point desperation shot by senior Zollie Robertson at the buzzer.

“That shot at the end of the first quarter was huge,” Fisher said. It kind of relaxed us a little bit.”

New Franklin pumped up its lead to seven points early in the second quarter on a 4-0 run, but the ever-tenacious Harrisburg found a way to come back. That was the plot for the rest of the game. New Franklin pulled ahead late in the first half, but Harrisburg made it a one-point game at the break on a bucket from the paint by sophomore Bender Wardrip.

Both teams traded punches throughout the second half. Finally, New Franklin appeared to have the game in hand until Combs sank a 3-point shot from the top of the key with 10 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 59-59.

“I’m proud of our guys, proud of the effort that they showed to get back in that ball game and get it sent over time,” Fisher said. “I thought we handled the adversity really well by getting it to overtime. We just ran out of gas in overtime.”

With three starters fouled out on the bench, Harrisburg fought but watched the game slip away as New Franklin continued to gobble up offensive rebounds. The two teams were neck-and-neck with a minute left. But New Franklin senior Drake Clark found a way to score four points to put his team in front by six. Ahead by two, he made the first of two free-throw attempts. He then somehow wound up with the rebound on his own missed shot, then was fouled on a putback. He sank the bonus free throw to make the score 67-61 with about 40 seconds to play.

Harrisburg could not close the gap as it was outscored 10-3 in overtime.

“New Franklin made the plays down the stretch and overtime that they needed to make to win that ball game,” Fisher said. “And we didn’t get the ball where we needed to offensively, and we didn’t come up with big rebounds defensively. A couple of loose balls that we could have gotten, and we just didn’t come up with them.”

Harrisburg finished with four players in double figures. Combs led the team with 13 points. Lind and Samuels each posted 12. Samuels scored 10 of his dozen total in the first half, with a 3-point shot in the second quarter to bring his team within one.

Junior Bryce Ott finished with 11 points, including 3-point baskets in each of the third and fourth quarters.

New Franklin also finished with four players in double figures. Bishop led all scorers with 20 points and banked four 3-point shots, three of which came in the first eight minutes. Rylan Hundley followed with 19 points. The junior sank three shots from the arc and made four of six free-throw attempts.

Senior Drake Clark added 17 points and was 5-for-8 from the line. Senior Connor Wilmsmeyer added 10 points.

“I thought they really played hard, and I thought we struggled with their pressure a little bit,” Schlotzhauer said. “It got a little more physical than we wanted it to, I think, which is good for us. At the end of the year, that’s the way it’s going to be called. So, you’ve got to learn to adjust to that, and that’s why we added them to the schedule because they’re a team that’ll make you do that.”

Monday’s bout will likely be the final between the two outstanding teams this year unless they should meet in the state quarterfinals. Harrisburg was moved east to District 5 this year after contending for a title a year ago in District 7, which includes New Franklin.

Harrisburg, now 6-4, gets 11 days off to prepare for a 6-1 Class 4 team. The Bulldogs will play Southern Boone on Dec. 29 to close out 2023. On Jan. 2, 2024, Harrisburg will take on New Bloomfield at home before returning to Lewis & Clark Conference action against Scotland County on Jan. 5.

New Franklin concludes the 2023 portion of the season 8-1 overall. The only blemish was a two-point loss to Class 2 defending state champion Salisbury early in the season. The Bulldogs open 2024 as the top seed in their own tournament and will take on eighth-seeded Fayette at 6 p.m. on Jan. 2.