Saturday night turned out to be the 2022-23 home opener for the Franklin County Wildcats following a rescheduling with Lawrenceburg (moved to Jan. 17) and coming to town were the Centerville Bulldogs – losers of their last 27 ball games.

After a roaring 10-0 start by the hosts, CHS did climb back to within 13-12 as Wildcat coach Mark Foster was generous with early substitutions. Once the starting five returned to the court after halftime for most of the second half, FC's lead ballooned to as much as 23 before settling in at 61-40 by game's end.

A basket by Landyn Keiser made it a one-point game midway through the second period ahead of a 7-0 run by the hosts. Sophomore Quinn Gillman put in a reverse layup, then fed senior teammate Brant Ertel for a 3-pointer. Senior Jace Lee's follow-up hoop with 1:24 remaining produced a 22-14 halftime advantage.

The opening gun of the second half led to a near carbon copy of the first – a 9-2 sequence for the Wildcats that led to former Connersville Spartan Kodi Smith calling timeout. Lee hit a three with just five seconds elapsed, and following a Bulldog bucket, Ertel nailed back-to-back triples (Lee and Gillman assists).

Those makes spurred 11 unanswered for FC to quickly create a 20-point margin at 36-16. After the timeout, Gillman and senior Landen Wuestefeld scored in transition. A three for Gavin Robinson interrupted the offensive spree, but only for a moment. Lee converted in the paint and later hit a pair of foul shots. A blow-by for Ertel made it 42-19.

Six-foot-nine Carter Heaston scored his only goal for CHS, only to see Ertel muscle up for two more. Nathan Dickenson scored down low for the Dogs, and it was 44-23 after three.

With the outcome looking one-sided, Centerville didn't give up just yet. Dickenson scored three points to offset a Gillman goal and Robinson and Shea Hollendonner baskets made it 46-30; CHS used a timeout with 5:35 on the clock. Two Tanner Weartz scores (assists to Eli Butt and Brady Morehead) then precipitated the inevitable.

Lee would add four points to his game-high total of 20 and Ertel three to his sum of 19; Xander Rodriguez got in on the action as well, scoring off feeds from Morehead and Ertel.

The initial salvo saw Ertel dish to Lee for the game's first and third buckets, complemented by lengthy threes from the hand of Wuestefeld. Smith paused for time to settle his Bulldogs, who finally got on the board with 1:59 on the quarter clock thanks to a backdoor cut for Keiser. Ertel made it 12-2 before Hollendonner got to the rim for a buzzer-beating layup.

CHS proceeded to score 10 of the game's next 11 points with four players contributing. Ertel accounted for FC's lone point.

Wuestefeld (8), Gillman (6), Weartz (4) and X-Rod (4) rounded out FC scoring. Dickenson and Hollendonner unofficially had 15 and 10 respective totals for the visitors.

FC (3-0) has a double weekend at home, welcoming Rushville Friday for a conference match and South Ripley Saturday evening.