Franklin Central loses key player in win

A jubilant Franklin Central locker room went silent when Jalen Bell walked through the door, lugging a bulky leg brace to support his left knee.

Bell, a 6-1 senior who is Franklin Central’s leading scorer and rebounder, collapsed in a heap near the end of his team’s 40-38 overtime win over host Ben Davis on Tuesday in the first round of the Marion County tournament.

Franklin Central coach John Rockey spoke optimistically of Bell’s situation in the hallway after the game until he was pulled aside by the Ben Davis trainer.

“He’s not talking my language at all,” Rockey said. “The way he’s reacting, it sounds like it could be a possible tear or possible break. We have some guys who do some good things for us off the bench, so we’ll still try to play.”

Without Bell, Franklin Central (7-3) will advance to play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday at Decatur Central, a surprise 50-49 winner over Brebeuf Jesuit. Jacob Malone scored all six points in overtime for the Flashes, including two free throws following a steal near midcourt with 14.5 seconds left to provide the winning margin.

The 6-3 Malone, who finished with 11 points and five rebounds, said Franklin Central wanted to trap the ball as Ben Davis advanced past half court.

“When just planned on trapping and D.J. (Heinrichs) got his hands on the ball,” Malone said. “I didn’t know if I got fouled or not, but the refs called it and we got the free throws.”

Michael Beaty’s 12-foot floater bounced off the back of the rim and Brennan Gillis just missed on a follow attempt on the final Ben Davis possession. The ball caromed out to Ian Deiters at the top of the key, but his rushed 3-pointer at the buzzer was tipped by Lucas Huffman.

“I’m not going a good enough job getting across what we need to do in a possession game like that,” Ben Davis coach Mark James said. “It’s halfway through the season and we found out who we were tonight. Now we understand we have a lot of things to work on.”

Neither coach was necessarily looking forward to the matchup. Rockey was an assistant for James at Franklin Central for 26 years before taking over three years ago when James made the move to Ben Davis. It was the first time James had faced Franklin Central from the other side.

“You try to block that out,” James said. “John’s a great friend of mine. (Assistant coaches) John Ashworth and Kyle Brewer played for me. Some of those guys I’ve coached since kindergarten. It’s a good community out there and it’s a good community here. You have mixed feelings, but you can’t worry about that. You still have to play the game.”

James expressed his concern for Bell, as did the Franklin Central team after the game. The Flashes haven’t won a Marion County tournament since the 2006-07 season.

“We felt like we had to win this game for Jalen because he put it on the line for us,” Malone said. “We’re not sure how bad it is for him, but we want to win for him. The Marion County is great competition and we’ll have to have some younger guys step up.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

Franklin Central 40, Ben Davis 38, OT

Franklin Central … 5 12 13 4 6 - 40

Ben Davis … 9 9 7 9 4 - 38

Franklin Central (7-3) – D.J. Heinrichs 0 0-0 0, Jalen Bell 1 2-2 4, Lucas Huffman 5 0-4 15, Antoyne Jackson 2 0-0 4, Jacob Malone 2 7-8 11, Matthew Anderson 0 0-0 0, Marcus Burk 2 1-1 6. Totals: 12 10-15 40.

Ben Davis (5-5) – DeShon Tate 1 0-0 3, Michael Beaty 5 5-5 15, Stephon Matthews 1 2-2 4, Brennan Gillis 3 2-3 8, Juwan Carpenter 4 0-1 8, Chris Evans 0 0-0 0, Ian Deiters 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 9-11 38.

3-point goals: Franklin Central 6 (Huffman 5, Burk), Ben Davis 1 (Tate)