HANOVER, Ind. – For the first time since 2008, the Franklin College men's basketball team will be taking part in the NCAA Tournament after the sixth-seeded Grizzlies upset top-seeded Hanover 91-84 to capture their second consecutive Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament championship.

Franklin (14-14) continued their Cinderella run that saw them knock off the top three seeds in the HCAC tournament. The final hurdle proved to be their stiffest test, as Franklin bested a Hanover (21-5) team that had only lost once on their home floor all year in a venue that the Grizzlies hadn't won in since December 2013.

Led by a career-high 34 points from freshman and tournament MVP Cody Samples along with a dominant late-game stretch from senior Matt Krause, the Grizzlies completed their storybook run to earn its sixth league tournament championship, running it back for the first time since 1999-2000.

"We're so happy with our group and they earned this the hard way," Head coach Brian Lebowitz said afterwards. "This has been a great run and to make it to the national tournament with this group is really special. We've had our share of ups and downs this year and the last few weeks, we've found a steadiness to the way we play and all of these guys saw their hard work rewarded. We're really excited to have the opportunity to keep playing." 

How it Happened
Hanover held on to an early lead, keeping the Grizzlies at bay until a 12-0 Franklin run turned a seven-point deficit into a 24-19 FC lead with 8:57 to go in the opening half. A triple from Samples with 7:04 to play gave Franklin a 29-25 lead, but Hanover would close out the opening half strong and take a 45-40 lead into the locker room.

The Panthers extended their lead to seven early in the second half, but couldn't land the knock-out blow as the Grizzlies stayed within striking distance until the 6:12 mark, when a Trey Flatt layup made gave the Griz their first lead of the second half at 69-68.

From there, Krause took the game over, with the Grizzlies' lone senior putting on a clinic to close the game out. The West Lafayette, Ind.-native scored 11 straight points for Franklin, knocking down a dagger corner three with 59 seconds to go that put the Grizzlies up 84-76. The final minute saw Krause, Samples and Lynn King add to the lead at the free throw line to complete the upset.

Inside the Box Score
-Samples played the game of his life, going 10-for-12 from the floor, 7-for-8 from three and 7-for-8 from the line. It marked the first time in the Versailles, Ind.-native's career that he recorded more than 20 points in a game.
-Krause's dominant performance down the stretch earned him a spot on the all-tournament team, as he finished with 22 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
-The Grizzlies put together their best shooting performance of the season, knocking down 60.4% (29-for-48) of their field goals, burying 12 threes and connecting on 21-of-23 free throws.
-Freshman Flatt added 12 points and Carter Crowe had 11.
-Samples, Krause and Crowe were the iron men for FC, with all three playing all 40 minutes of action.