Sayre Takes Down Franklin County, Collett Scores 32 in Region 11 Action
Despite being down three starters, the Franklin County Flyers gave Sayre a run for their money down the stretch.
“I honestly didn’t talk about it in the locker room. I didn’t let my guys know until we got on the floor,” Sayre head coach Robert Goodman said. “It made it very hard and they’ve got some good players. Franklin County is very good and they’ll be tough to beat especially when they’re full strength.”
The play of Sayre’s Zander Collett was the difference on the night, scoring 32 to lead the Spartans to their first Region 11 victory of the season.
“It just comes with working hard and trusting in my guys,” Collett said about his scoring prowess. ”I couldn’t do what I do out there without my teammates. You just gotta be focused every day; it doesn’t just happen.”
Coach Goodman had some praise for his leading scorer as well:
“When he goes hard, Zander is as good as anybody in the city, it’s why he’s the leading scorer in the region right now,” Goodman said postgame. “He knows how to create his shot. When his shot is on, it’s pretty smooth.”
First Quarter: Sayre 22, Franklin County 9
Thanks to their offensive rebounding and their tempo on the fastbreak, Sayre broke a 9-9 tie by mounting a 13-0 run to end the quarter.
“We just kind of wanted to keep the pressure on, so we stayed with it and with Zander being able to do what he does for us is awesome,” Goodman said.
Everything that could’ve gone wrong for Franklin County during that run, did. Turnovers, missed layups, bad shot selection, non-existence defense. The Flyers best scorer in Zac Cox tallied just four points in the opening quarter.
With everything going Sayre’s way, a steal on the final possession of the quarter that led to a missed layup by Davis Miller at the buzzer allowed Franklin County to catch a break. For the moment.
HALF: Sayre 34, Franklin County 25
The Flyers broke the 13-0 run with a quick bucket in the opening seconds of the second quarter. Aside from two buckets throughout the period that found the backboard, there wasn’t much fight in the Flyers in the first six minutes.
Collett, Region 11’s top scorer, was doing everything from making shots, finding open teammates and stealing the basketball throughout the first half, leading many of the fastbreaks that ended with a bucket either from him or a teammate. Collett led all players with 13 at halftime.
A Zac Cox three-pointer beat the buzzer to cut the lead to single digits to give the Flyers life heading into the locker room. Cox and Braylon Dawson combined for 16 of the Flyer’s 25 points at the half.
Third Quarter: Sayre 59, Franklin County 42
Two three-pointers in a row from Franklin County’s Dominick Taylor cut the lead to just four out of the break to ignite the Flyer bench.
“It’s really just staying focused, not letting that really get to us,” Collett said about the Franklin County run. “It helps that it’s a home game and we have the crowd behind us. So really, trying not to let it get to us, staying focused and trusting in ourselves, trusting in our coaches and we know what we can do, so we just got to go out there and do it.”
That mindset was exactly what Sayre needed. Collett and the fast-paced Spartans extended the lead back up to double digits by the end of the quarter thanks to a 15-4 run in the span of just three minutes of game time.
A buzzer-beating deep three from Collett gave the Spartans their largest lead of the night at 17 heading into the final period of regulation. Collett scored 17 of the team’s 25 third-quarter points as well.
FINAL: Sayre 82, Franklin County 61
Sayre extended their lead all the way to 27 in the final period as Franklin County’s lineup began to show signs of inexperience. The size and length of the Spartan lineup was too much in the end.
After Franklin County cut the lead to four, Sayre mounted an 11-minute stretch to outscore the Flyers 44-27 down the final stretch.
With Sayre securing their first Region 11 victory of the season, they now head to Richmond tomorrow for a date with Model at 7:30 p.m.
“It feels good to win, but we’re not done yet,” Collett said. “We’re looking ahead—this was a good win, but we a game again tomorrow at Model. We get to celebrate real quick and then turn around and go down to Richmond. So, I mean, yeah, it feels good, but you know, we still have more ahead.”
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