JACKSON &045; Franklin County played exactly the game it wanted to against Holly Springs in the MHSAA Class 3A State Championship game.

It just wasn’t enough.

The Bulldogs (24-8) fell 47-35 to Holly Springs Friday night and were outscored 10-5 in the final quarter to win the game.

But Franklin County accomplished most of its aim for the first three quarters. The Bulldogs kept the score low and limited turnovers and the resultant Holly Springs fast breaks, things Franklin County head coach Chris Jordan had said before the game would be crucial to the Bulldogs’ chances.

&uot;We had a game plan and we were going to stick with it,&uot; Jordan said. &uot;We would have had to shoot a little better to

The one thing Franklin County couldn’t do was corral Holly Springs guard Kenny Dawkins, who scored 23 points and hit 5-of-6 3-point attempts. Dawkins shot 75 percent from the field in the game.

&uot;They’re pretty good,&uot; Jordan said. &uot;When they shoot like that there isn’t much you can do.&uot;

Trailing 28-18 at halftime, Franklin County came out in the third quarter and made a game of it. The Bulldogs cut the Holly Springs lead to 35-30 on Cameron’s 3-pointer with 1:30 left in the third quarter, the closest they would get in the second half.

&uot;We came out and hit a 3 and we got it within four of five, so that was good,&uot; Jordan said.

After a close game in which the most Franklin County trailed be was 12 points, Holly Springs finally pulled away in the fourth quarter. With a 37-30 lead entering the period, the Hawks employed a stall offense, moving the ball around without making serious attempts to score. That took time off the clock.

On defense, the Hawks employed a 1-2-2 half-court trap in the fourth quarter that forced several Franklin County turnovers and gave the Hawks some of the transition opportunities they wanted.

&uot;We were hoping (our players) would have some energy for the fourth quarter so we could go to the half-court trap and we did,&uot; Holly Springs head coach Naylond Hayes said. &uot;That got us three or four turnovers and that made the difference in the game.&uot;

&uot;We made a run and they tightened up their defense,&uot; Jordan said. &uot;We didn’t get many good looks after that. That trapping toward the end gave us problems. We had trouble attacking against that.&uot;

Though visibly upset after the loss, Franklin County guard Jasper O’Quinn was happy about one thing: &uot;They know who Franklin County is. They thought they were going to run us out of the gym,&uot; O’Quinn said.

O’Quinn and his teammates said they were more than a little upset about the Holly Springs’ team discussing a potential matchup with Class 4A’s Lanier in a &uot;dream game&uot; Tuesday night (Lanier still has to win the Class 4A championship today to make such a game a reality).

Such talk might have been though premature, since the Hawks had yet to even beat Choctaw Central in the state semifinal game.

&uot;That motivated me to play harder,&uot; Franklin County’s DeAndrea Cameron said.

Holly Springs’ Dawkins admitted that his team might have looked past Franklin County to a possible showdown with Lanier.

&uot;We probably overlooked them a little,&uot; Dawkins said. &uot;We had to come back to our senses.&uot;

Forward Marcus Tillman, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer this season, was held to 14 points, 11 of those in the first half. That led the Bulldogs in scoring.

&uot;I knew they would guard him tough,&uot; Jordan said. &uot;They had a guy shadowing him, making it look like he was open when he wasn’t. We just could not get a good look for him at all.&uot;

Franklin County’s Jonathan Brooks, Tillman and Cameron were all named to the Class 3A State All-Tournament team.