BALDWIN - Friday's game between Franklin and West St. Mary went deeper than the usual rivalry between the two schools.

The winner of the game would be assured of a spot in the Class 3A playoffs as the second-place team from District 7-3A while the loser would have to wait to see if they picked up a wild-card bid to the playoffs when the pairings are announced later.

"There was no pressure at all, it was just a matter of who wanted it more and in the end they did," said Franklin coach Aaron Hammond.

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Behind a strong fourth quarter performance by Lindsay Bray, the Wolfpack beat the Hornets 77-62 to wrap up second place in district and drop the Hornets to third place.

West St. Mary (11-14, 5-3) will travel to Menard Friday night for the first round of the Class 3A playoffs, while Franklin (7-14, 4-4) will also be on the road in the first round if it gets a wild-card bid.

"I knew that if Franklin would have come out second and we would have been third that both teams would end up in the playoffs," said WSM coach Paul Reed. "But for us it was a big game losing like we did to Franklin the first time. I wanted to see what type of momentum our boys had coming out tonight."

Led by Bray's 22 points, the Wolfpack had four players in double figures in the win.

"It is good when you get balanced scoring because most of the time you are going to win the ball game," said Reed. "When you have more than two people scoring in double figures that is the difference."

Along with Bray, Brent Notto scored 17, Ronald Provost had 13 and Harry Coleman chipped in 11 for the Wolfpack.

But it was Bray's performance, especially in the fourth quarter that sealed the win for the Wolfpack.

"I was just thinking that we need to win the game," said Bray. "We knew that we were playing for second place and I knew that I had to step it up.

"My team started to step it up and that meant that I had to step it up too."

Bray scored 8 of his points in a three-minute span of the fourth quarter as the Wolfpack turned a 10-point lead into a 20-point lead to take control of the contest.

"We sat down before the game and talked that we needed to win because we are a four-year school and had to make the playoffs for the second straight year," said Bray.

Even Reed was pleased with his forward's performance.

"He stepped his game up," said Reed. "I was proud of him. I was saying that he was able to get the ball and post up on the smaller guys from Franklin."

Bray's performance stood out in a season in which he has had spotty play at times.

"He has been up-and-down, up-and-down," said Reed. "Lindsay works hard. The only things about him is when he misses once or twice he gets down on himself. But he has worked hard both in practice and in the ballgame."

Franklin stayed as close as it could to the Wolfpack but in the end didn't have enough horses to pull off the victory.

FSH played without guard Johnathon Small, who was out with an ankle injury, and also had two other players foul out late in the game.

"We got caught up in a personnel situation," said Hammond. "Johnathon Small was hurt. We thought he could go and he tried his best but couldn't do it. The other kids gave it all and sometimes you are just on the receiving end of the loss."

Despite the missing players, the Hornets stayed with the Wolfpack all night, trailing 18-14 at the end of the first quarter, 32-26 at halftime and 49-38 at the end of the third period.

"Tonight they wanted the game a little bit more than we did," said Hammond. "I don't take anything away from my kids because they gave all the effort they could give.

"We weren't preparing for second or third, we were just trying to win the ballgame. We'll just take the luck of the draw. If we get in, we get in, and we'll play it like it is our last game. Every game my kids are going to give it their all and we will see what happens."

Donald Lightfoot led the Hornets with 22 points and Bernie Jones added 10.

But for the Wolfpack, it was a needed win and it required a change in strategy from the first game between the two teams.

"Franklin has good shooters and we had to play man-to-man defense to deny them and that was the difference," said Reed. "The whole year we played man-to-man but when we played them earlier I went to a zone because they were so quick, and they beat us with 3-point shots.

"Tonight I said that if we are going to make the playoffs we need to play man-to-man defense and we did a good job. We bent a little bit but we did not fold and because we changed up we are in the playoffs."