Sea-King 4A Boys | Franklin victory not very pleasing

KIRKLAND — In the Franklin locker room, players barely spoke as coach Jason Kerr quietly handed out medals.

The Quakers had won their most recent Sea-King 4A District championship — beaten their biggest rival, in fact — but this wasn't the place to find a celebration.

"There was no victory speech," Kerr said.

The reactions to Franklin's 58-55 victory against Garfield made it unclear just who won this sloppy boys basketball game at Juanita's sold-out gymnasium. But Franklin, one of the state's most legitimate contenders for the Class 4A championship, expected more of itself.

"I just don't think we were focused," Kerr said. "And I'll be trying to figure out over the weekend why."

In their first two meetings with Garfield, the second-ranked Quakers (21-2) won by 15 and 24 points by forcing Garfield out of its game plans. Though the Bulldogs never led in the second half this time around, they kept it close throughout.

"We let them run their stuff," Kerr said. "Our entire motivation is to take you out of your stuff."

Garfield (17-7) had its struggles with the ball, turning it over 33 times. But by shooting 48 percent, the 10th-ranked Bulldogs were able to cut Franklin's lead to 34-33 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter.

"In our previous games, we'd just go one-on-one," Garfield freshman Tony Wroten said. "This time, we played together."

Yet even when the Quakers were off, they found a way to stay undefeated against Washington teams. Franklin slowly built its lead throughout the fourth quarter, and it went ahead 55-45 with a minute left.

"When we started rolling, we started playing how we play," said Franklin guard Peyton Siva, who led the Quakers with 20 points. "We started getting in lanes, we started forcing turnovers."

Wroten scored 10 of his 25 points in the final two minutes to keep it close, but not close enough. The Quakers escaped with a No. 1 seed into the state tournament. They'll find out their first-round opponent Sunday.

"We have to be a lot better," Siva said.

Tom Wyrwich: 206-515-5653 or twyrwich@seattletimes.com