By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Over the past few year, the Franklin boys’ basketball team has found its way into the MIAA Division 1 State Championship game. Two years ago, the Panthers cruised into the Championship game winning their four games by an average of 19.5 points per game, but unfortunately fell short (59-53) to North. Last year, Franklin once again rode into that same final game by a combined 16.5 average over its four games. This time, coach CJ Neely took his team to the top of the mountain with a three-point win over Newton North to bring home the State Championship.

After finally picking up the elusive hardware, Neely stepped aside, and Mike Masto has stepped into his sneakers to fill the void. Masto began his coaching career in 2011 as the Franklin freshman boys’ basketball coach before moving up and taking the reins of the junior varsity team under Neely. Masto would leave Franklin to become the head coach at Walpole for two years before moving over to Natick for the next six seasons before making his return to Franklin.

“Franklin has always been my dream job,” he said. “I started teaching here in 2010 and basketball was my passion. I knew that I had to depart Franklin in order to return. I needed experience.”

Now, as his returns to take over a successful program created by Neely, he finds himself under a large magnifying glass, with the pressure to keep the ship righted having lost nine seniors from last year’s squad.

“Pressure is a privilege, and I told the kids that we need to create our own culture – write our own story,” the Panthers coach said. “The team has responded and know that graduating those nine seniors we were pretty much going into a complete overhaul this year.”

Having worked under Neely, Masto believes that he has a similar philosophy as his predecessor and wants to get his team to the same mountain. 

“Having worked with CJ, I know how he went about things, but I have I my own ways of doing things,” Masto said. “Coming in, I knew that there was going to be a little bit of a learning curve on both sides. We would have to learn about each other (coaches and players) but would eventually get there.”

Coming into this season, the new coach will be looking for his captains to lend a hand to helping him get his process across to the players. Senior Justice Samuels and Jack Sullivan along with junior Nas Johnson will be the ones providing the hard work and max effort, coming to practice early and staying late to set the example for the rest of the team.

On the actual court during games, Samuels, the only returner with any championship playing time, will be looked upon to use his rebounding skills to get put back baskets as well as rim protection on the defensive side of the ball. Sullivan has shown during the early part of the season to be the Panthers’ leading scorer, something that was not anticipated by the coaching staff.

“Justice can dominate a game, so there is a lot of attention placed on him by opposing teams allowing him to create other opportunities,” the Panther Coach said. “Jack, who only saw a little bit of varsity time last year because of the senior group being so strong, has taken a step forward this year and is currently averaging 12.7 points per game.”

Two other seniors who have stepped up and picked up some of the scoring slack have been James Crowley, averaging 8.1 points per game and Ben Scaccia with 7.7 points. According to the Coach, Scaccia is definitely a scorer; he can slash to the rim really well, but he has had to get use to the speed of the game. Having played junior varsity basketball last year, he must get used to varsity play. 

Crowley, on the other hand, is more of a post player who will get the majority of his points in the paint, while also using his outstanding rebound abilities defensively as well as offensively. In a recent game against North Attleboro, he pulled down 15 rebounds for the Panthers.

Sophomore Danny Santos has been a pleasant surprise thus far, averaging 9.3 points per game, while as a point guard he has been able to handle opposing team’s press and get Franklin moving into their offense.

While the obvious goals are to get back to the State Championship for the third year in a row, Masto’s expectations are focus; a day-by-day mentality, building one brick at a time. 

“I knew coming in that it was going to be a learning curve, and no one is bigger than the team itself, we are all parts,”  he said. “We need to work on the controllables and work hard. They have all bought in and understand what it is all about. Everyone is an important piece to the puzzle.”

Franklin opened the season 0-2, while feeling the pressure. The team began to focus and turned things around, winning four of its last five games.

“Having only one person (Samuels) with any real varsity basketball experience, the rest of the team needed to gain that experience,” the coach said. “We are starting to earn that experience and are feeling better about ourselves. If we continue to focus, taking it step by step, that next game, mentality, we should be all right.”

The team without a doubt wants to be in those big-time games, but Masto and his coaching staff are just trying to keep the perspective while growing with each game. The coach is proud of his team having embodied his philosophy, and if they continue to learn throughout the season, Franklin could once again get into the Division 1 State Tournament and make its way toward a third straight Championship game and possibly bring home back-to -back titles.