ADAM DAIGLE

FERRIDAY, La. &045; Thirteen 3-pointers and an impressive inside game is good.

But the way first-year coach Ricky Gray sees it, there’s a ways to go.

Tough customer, huh? Gray’s ACCS Rebels lit up Franklin Academy’s zone defense early and got key production inside to take a 72-61 win over a tough Franklin Academy at the Huntington tournament Saturday.

Yep, not there yet. Although tough, Franklin is a Class A team, and the Rebels have their sights set on getting back into district after the holidays and trying to make a run.

&uot;As long as we keep playing like we did today, we’ll be all right,&uot; ACCS guard Glenn Williams said. &uot;It’s learning (Gray’s) system. We’ve actually been playing together a lot. He knows how to beat (Jackson) Prep, and that’s what he wants to do. We’ve got to adjust to his game a little bit.&uot;

With the weapons the Rebels have, Gray’s game could be awfully similar to Saturday’s version against the Cougars. But only a Franklin comeback in the fourth quarter and a subpar night shooting free throws kept the Rebels from being totally positive about the game.

The Rebels missed eight free throws in the fourth quarter that allowed Franklin back in the game.

&uot;We’re going to play a 3-point game with Luke Ogden inside,&uot; Gray said. &uot;We did a good job of finding the open man. We’re getting to where we can play that kind of ball. At the end our legs got tired, but we’ll get there. It’s bad when your 3-pointer percentage is better than your free throw percentage. We let it get closer than it should have.&uot;

They did, but the Cougars never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter. The Rebels finally started missing from 3-point land after just ripping it up in the second and third quarters.

The Rebels outscored Franklin 27-8 in the third quarter thanks to seven 3-pointers. What was a 17-12 Franklin lead heading in turned into a 39-25 ACCS lead at halftime.

Beau Brashier hit three 3-pointers in the quarter &045; six for the game &045; while finishing with 24 points.

&uot;I don’t know &045; Beau was shooting the lights out,&uot; Williams said. &uot;Everybody was shooting well tonight. When we had to get the ball inside, we got it inside. When we had to shoot it, we shot it. That was the first time everybody has shot really well.&uot;

Most of the shots were uncontested as the Cougars &045; who had the bigger lineup &045; stayed in a 2-3 zone defense in hopes of taking away the inside game.

Caleb Walker started the flurry with a 3-pointer for a 14-2 run that ended with a bucket inside from Ogden for a 26-19 lead with 4:22 left. The Cougars got a basket from Ross Kincaid after that, but the Rebels scored 10 straight points &045; including a 3-pointer from Brashier and Hunter Halford &045; for a 36-21 lead.

After the 14-point deficit at the break, Dustin Case opened the second half with another 3-pointer.

&uot;They got on fire, and we couldn’t guard anybody,&uot; Franklin head coach Mike Kramer said. &uot;It was a combination of two things. We let them get going, and once they got going we couldn’t stop them. We didn’t know what they had, so we started with that (zone) to see what would happen.&uot;

The Rebels, meanwhile, stayed tight on defense in keeping the Cougars from controlling the inside. They went on an 11-2 run in the third quarter to put the lead at 55-34 with 57 seconds left on a 3-pointer from Brashier.

It was the Gray’s ameba defense, the scheme legendary LSU head coach Dale Brown used during his heyday with the Tigers.

&uot;I talked to (Huntington) Coach (Michael) McAnally last night, and they (Franklin) had 22 putbacks on them,&uot; Gray said. &uot;We worked hard on putbacks and blocking out. This is the first time our team out-rebounded a bigger team, and that was part of the difference.&uot;