Frankfort wins, 60-55

SHORT GAP - Ladies and gentlemen, the rumors that the Keyser-Frankfort rivalry is dead have been greatly exaggerated.
Indeed, it is as alive as ever.
Frankfort used some hot initial shooting to get ahead and frenetic defense to get back into it late as the Falcons came-from-behind to torch the Tornado 60-55 last night in Short Gap.
“This was all the kids,” said Frankfort head coach Scott Slider, “They just wanted to come out and win.”
That “will to win” was obvious to anyone in attendance at Frankfort last night, and the Falcons showed they came to play right off the tip as James Jones hustled down the lane to put Frankfort on top 2-0.
There would be no less than six lead changes or ties during the initial eight-minute span, with both teams playing out of character.
Keyser was unable to get into transition, and veered fro its’ normal gameplan instead trying to take advantage of a big size advantage for the Golden Tornado inside.
Senior Preston Hartman was the beneficiary of those feeds, and he scored 11 of Keyser’s 17 first-quarter points .
However, Frankfort would not be outhustled on this night, and withstood the onslaught of athleticism by the Golden Tornado by moving the basketball well to open shooters and knocking down those attempts.
Skyler Minke connected on a trio of treys in the period and Logan Wolford provided inspirational play on both ends of the floor to propel the Falcons to a 21-17 lead entering the second stanza.
It was just Wolford’s third game of the season since suffering internal injuries in the opener against Mountain Ridge, and the junior would prove pivotal.
Keyser continued to get multiple shots at point blank range in the second quarter, and Frankfort flat out played over their heads the entire period. Frankfort took advantage of numerous breakdowns in Keyser’s perimeter defense and poor guardplay, and converted those mental lapses and lack of lock-down into easy baskets.
After all that the Golden Tornado still trailed Frankfort, 34-31, at the half.
Wolford scored four of his team-high 15 points on a transition basket, as Keyser once again failed to get back quickly, and a nifty baseline move to push the Frankfort lead to seven at the 5:43 mark of the third period.
Keyser went back inside, this time to Jeremy Green, but the Falcons answered again with back-to-back buckets by Wolford and Travis Meyers to stretch the advantage to 42-33.
Green made it worse, losing his cool and possession of the basketball when he pushed a Falcon after he was fouled chasing a loose ball.
Meyers coverted 1-of-2 technical free throws, giving the Falcons a double-digit lead, 43-33.
Frankfort decided to begin to hold the basketball with 2:33 to play, and Keyser took advantage of the Falcon’s poor ballhandling to get back in it and regain the momentum.
Hartman got the Golden Tornado going with four-straight to end the period, and teamed with is little brother Peyton to score six more and tie it up at 43-all with 5:39 to play.
Green regained the lead for Keyser with another inside move a minute later, and Preston finished off a 15-0 run spanning 7:33 with a 3-point play to give Keyser a 48-44 advantage with just over four minutes to play.
But the Falcon’s were not dead yet.
Dustin Meyers ended the run for Frankfort with a follow, and Frankfort continued to trade blows with Keyser chipping away slowly at the slim lead.
Wolford tied the game at 52 with a pair of freebies, and followed a Hartman basket with a 3-pointer to give Frankfort the lead at 55-54 with just over a minute to play.
And the Falcons never looked back.
Dustin Meyers followed up a shot and another Minke free throw with a big rebound to seal the game, and Keyser backed off the basketball with five seconds to play conceding defeat.
It was not Duke-Carolina, but the team in Carolina (or Columbia) blue came out on top this time.
Jones played a strong all-around game for Frankfort to finish with 10 points, while Travis Meyers scored eight points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
Minke added 13 points for a well-balanced Frankfort attack.
Preston Hartman finished with 23 points for Keyser, Green added 17.
Keyser falls to 10-4 and will travel to Allegany on Tuesday.
Frankfort won just its’ second game in 10 tries and will try to continue the roll at Southern Garrett on Tuesday as well.
Keyser won the jayvee matchup, a heated contest as well, 45-41.