Here are highlights from the action in Hillsborough’s win over Franklin in a Week 7 contest from the 2016 Immaculata Fall League. In this battle between old Somerset County rivals, Hillsborough jumped out to a 7-0 lead by the 16:08 mark and then added another score exactly a minute later before Franklin called time trailing 9-0 at the 15:08 mark. The Raiders early run included a layup, a three pointer, and a putback.
Joshua Gestosani got Franklin on the board with two free throws at the 14:23 mark before Hillsborough’s Ethan Griffin got the points back for the Raiders with two foul shots of his own at the 12:30 mark for an 11-2 lead. Hillsborough added a triple from the left corner for a 14-2 lead at the 9:33 mark before Franklin roared back with 8 straight points including two threes over a span of 1:37 to close the gap to 14-10 before a Hillsborough timeout with 7:56 remaining in the first half.
The Raiders scored 4 of the next 7 points including a layup by Griffin at the 4:14 mark for an 18-13 lead, but Franklin rallied back again by scoring 5 of the next seven including a three pointer to pull within two with under a minute to go. Hillsborough would close out the half on a good note with a layup at the 39 second mark and another layup with 9 seconds left for a 24-18 halftime lead.
Over the first 6:29 of the second half, Franklin chipped away at the deficit with an 8-4 run that included two threes one of which was by Gestosani to help close the gap to 28-26 with 13 and a half minutes to play. Franklin would eventually tie the game at 32-32 with a 6-4 run over the next 7 minutes including a layup and a foul at the 7:17 mark.
Hillsborough reasserted itself by scoring 6 of the next 8 points including a layup by Griffin for a 38-34 lead when Franklin called time with 3:32 to go. Following the timeout, the Raiders added a pair of foul shots at the two minute mark for a 40-34 lead. Gestosani scored by taking it to the hoop for a layup with 1:02 left to close the gap to 40-36.
Unfortunately, Franklin would get no closer as Hillsborough went to the line and made 4 of 6 over the last 40 seconds to round out a 44-38 victory.