East Franklin Ninth Grade Boys Basketball Team closes 17-1 season with County Tournament title

Just when it was getting fun, the brief but dominant season for the East Franklin Junior High School 9th Grade Boys Basketball team came to an end with the team capturing the Franklin County Tournament Championship for only the third time in school history.

Coach Derrell Potter’s team finished with a lofty 17-1 record in a season that began, and ended, with tournament championships. The Rebels began the season in October by winning the Tharptown Tip Off Tournament by defeating Deshler.

Most of the team will move onto Phil Campbell High School next year to continue their basketball careers hoping for similar success to what they’ve seen the past three seasons.

Two years ago, as seventh graders, East Franklin struggled out of the gate, losing five of their first six games before closing strong and winning four of their final five to finish 5-6.

Last year as eighth graders, Potter’s team posted a record of 8-5, laying the groundwork for this year’s breakthrough 17-win season. 

The players who were on all three of those teams finished their East Franklin basketball careers with a record of 30-13.

“I figured we’d be pretty good after how we finished last year,” Potter said. “We were runner-up in the County Tournament last season so to get a title this year felt really good.”

It’s a bittersweet time now for the head coach who will see this special group move on to high school in the next phase of their education and athletic careers.

“You put so much into the team and then you watch them go on to other schools, but I know they’ll be successful,” Potter said. “This was just the third time in school history we’ve won the Ninth Grade County Tournament (with the last championship coming in 2003-2004) so it was a great way for their East Franklin basketball story to end.

“I’m really proud of the way they learned to play defense and to play together as a team. They did a great job spreading the floor and passing the ball as well as getting down the court,” Potter added.

The eight player roster consisted of Tiffin Burlington, Miles Duboise, Luke Morgan, BB Garrison, Bentley Morgan, Eli Baker, Titus Nix and Braylon Hallman. 

Each of the Rebels scored in their final game, the tournament championship against Phil Campbell which East Franklin won 55-21.

They also defeated Belgreen and Tharptown en route to the County Championship. The team’s lone loss was a one point defeat at the hands of 5A Lawrence County, 35-34.

Against Phil Campbell, Duboise led the way with 25 points. Burlington added 13 and Garrison 8 to pace the Rebels in a game that saw East Franklin jump out to an early 17-0 lead and a 30-8 advantage at halftime.

The Bobcats’ scoring was led by Collin Bell, who had 12 points.