EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The Franklin boys won two games on Friday to finish pool play of the 2022 McDonald’s Classic undefeated and secure a spot in the semifinals on Saturday.
The Cougars first beat Cooper International 51-45, then took down Canutillo 60-49 later in the day. Franklin will face the Balboa School (California) in the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning at Eastlake High School.
Franklin is the only El Paso team to advance into the winner’s bracket of the 2022 McDonald’s Classic. Shabach Christian (Maryland) and Arizona Compass will play in the other semifinal game at 9:30 a.m. The winners of those two games will meet at 12:30 p.m. in the championship game.
In other games featuring El Paso teams on Friday, Chapin narrowly lost to Balboa 41-35, then rolled past Eastlake; Canutillo lost its pair of games to Arizona Compass 59-40 and then to Franklin; and Eastlake lost both its games to Shabach Christian and Chapin.
On the girls side, Class 5A No. 1 Lubbock Monterey beat San Joaquin Memorial (CA) 59-56 in the morning, then beat Arizona Compass 60-51 in the nightcap. Monterey has one of the five best players in the country in the class of 2025 in Aaliyah Chavez. They will face Shabach Christian at 11 a.m. Saturday, with the winner likely to be crowned the winner of the girls bracket.