Franklin High boys basketball team beats Milford High on Nick Gaspar Night

FRANKLIN — Before Friday’s basketball game against Milford, Sean Vinson performed a unique pregame routine when his name was called over the loudspeaker for starting lineups.

The Franklin senior captain rose from the bench and high-fived teammates. He then jogged out toward teammate Hansy Jacques, who was standing right in front of him, and once Vinson reached Jacques, the latter wiped both ends of Vinson’s white headband before the two hoopsters made a prayer pose with their hands and bowed their heads.

“I pray to win the game,” Vinson said.

On Friday, Vinson and Franklin didn’t need much praying against a relatively inexperienced Milford squad.

Behind 14 made 3-pointers and a game-high 21 points from sophomore Henry DiGiorgio, Franklin breezed to a 77-34 win on Nick Gaspar Night at Franklin High.

Despite having a fairly young team itself – with only three seniors on their roster – Franklin is off to a 9-2 start to the season.

“It’s been a slow development,” Franklin coach CJ Neely said. “I think with the young guys we have playing a lot of minutes we’re going to have some highs and lows and I think they’re maturing slowly and I don’t think they’ve gotten close to where they can be as players in the long run but they’re good kids and they come into work every day.

“The energy with the group has been fantastic.”

DiGiorgio has been a spark plug for the Panthers this winter. The 6-foot sophomore guard has averaged a tick over 15 points per game. He sunk five 3-pointers in the victory over the Scarlet Hawks.

“He’s a great guy to have in the locker room and we all love having Henry on our team regardless of how old he is,” said Vinson, who added 13 points in the win.

“He’s getting better and playing well and I’m really proud of him,” Neely said.

“The players just trust me and I feel like I’ve been put in a good position to score,” DiGiorgio concluded.

DiGiorgio is joined by two other sophomores in Franklin’s starting lineup in Sean O’Leary and Andrew O’Neill.

“The underclassmen always step up,” Franklin senior Evan DaSilva said. “They’ve helped with a lot of wins and just keep us moving.”

Junior Ben Harvey joins Vinson as the other non-sophomore in the Panthers’ starting five. On Friday, it was another junior in Justin Allen who chipped in 16 points off of the bench – including four 3-pointers.

“We all like each other here, we’re all great friends,” Allen said. “We’d all die for each other and it’s just a great experience being out here and just seeing everyone on the bench and on the court light up and then my friends out in Rattle City going crazy.

“It just makes everything worth it.”

Tommy Cassell is a senior multimedia journalist for the Daily News. He can be reached at tcassell@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @tommycassell44.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Franklin MA boys basketball team beats Milford in Hockomock League game