The first-seeded New Franklin boys left no doubt about their top seeding, playing a near-perfect first half to take a double-digit lead into halftime on the way to a 70-47 defeat of the second-seeded Russellville Indians on Saturday afternoon to capture their first district title since winning back-to-back championships in 2019 and 2020.

The Bulldogs earned a first-round bye and advanced to the Class 2 District 8 championship after defeating host team and fourth-seeded Tipton 66-34 in the semifinals on Thursday. Russellville, which ends its season 17-11 overall, defeated seventh-seeded Smithton 113-33 in the opening round and advanced to the title game with a 70-57 win over third-seeded Harrisburg in the semis.

New Franklin coach Cory Nicholson has now won a district title in his first year as a head coach. He served as the Bulldogs’ assistant coach the prior two seasons.

“We had a pretty competitive district with four teams in the top that we all felt were really good. We knew it was going to be a grind to get out of here,” Nicholson said. “These guys deserve it. They really worked their butts off for me all season, and I couldn’t think of a better group to win a district title. I’m really proud of these guys.”

Despite averaging nearly 68 points a game, the Indians were held to just 20 points by halftime as New Franklin played a near-flawless first half, shooting 72.7 percent (16-22) from the field in the 16 minutes. The Bulldogs sank nine 3-pointers in the first half, including four by sophomore Noah Hackman and three by sophomore Jonah Bishop. New Franklin outscored Russellville 16-9 in the first quarter and dominated the Indians in the second period 27-11 to take a 43-27 lead into the break.

“It’s hard to beat anybody who is shooting like that,” Nicholson said. “Everything was going right. The defense looked good. We were making a ton of shots. You could not have asked for a better half of basketball.”

New Franklin moved the ball extremely well in the first half, leading to open shots all around the arc, and seniors Caden Schlotzhauer and Landon Shaw combined for 14 inside points. But it wasn’t just an offensive onslaught that led to the halftime scoring disparity. New Franklin was able to contain Russellville’s high-scoring offense to just 20 points over the first two quarters. That was in large part due to senior Lane Hackman, who drew the defensive assignment of guarding Russellville’s big man, 6’7 senior Ian Larison.

“Lane Hackman is a stud,” Nicholson said. “Defensively, he is everywhere. It doesn’t matter if the guy is 6’5” or 5’5”; he can guard anybody. He’s the leader of our defense. Everybody else played really good defense tonight, too, but he’s absolutely the key. He just does an awesome job.”

Despite being the biggest player on the floor, Larison scored only twice. Both were two-handed dunks, but were less impressive given the lopsided score.

Leading by 23 at the break, Nicholson told his players not to let up in the second half. “Just don’t come to a stalemate where we can’t get anything going. If we get baskets, we need to take them. But we need to take good shots instead of rushing down. I thought we rushed a little bit and let them claw back when we got up by 30. But I told them to just keep their foot on the gas, keep working, and maintain that lead.”

Russellville cut the lead down to 18 points in the fourth quarter but never came any closer, even as the Indians fouled to stop the clock in the bottom half of the final period. New Franklin made six of 12 free throws in the final three minutes before walking off the court with a decisive win for the district championship.

Coach Nicholson said Saturday’s shooting performance was the best of the season so far. The Bulldogs made nearly half of their field goals (24/51 - 47.1%) and sank an even dozen from the arc (12/28 - 43%).

“We shot the lights out of it, especially in the first half,” Nicholson said. “I think you’ll see some more of that with this team the rest of the season. We’ve got some kids who can really shoot it. It’s all about getting the right shots and not forcing bad shots.”

Schlotzhauer led all scorers with a game-high 26 points. He went 3-for-5 from the arc and converted seven of 10 free-throw attempts. He added 11 rebounds for the double-double as the Bulldogs controlled the glass all night, with 43 boards compared to 26 for the Indians.

Schlotzhauer also added four assists and two steals.

Noah Hackman finished with 20 points, with four triples, and made both of his free throws. He shot 7-for-15 from the field, and made three steals and two assists while bringing down six rebounds.

Bishop posted 12 points on the night, all from the arc on 10 shots from 3-point range.

Shaw finished just short of the double-double with eight points and nine rebounds. He was nearly perfect from the field, sinking four of five shots all night. His only miss came from the arc in the second half.

New Franklin entered the state playoffs with a sectional game in Harrisburg on Tuesday night against Westran after the Advertiser went to press. The third-seeded Hornets upset the top two seeds in overtime to emerge with the Class 2 District 7 title at Glasgow. They defeated the second-seeded host team 69-65 on Thursday, then beat first-seeded Salisbury 59-55 in Saturday’s championship.

New Franklin, now 20-8 overall, and the 22-7 Hornets were set to tip off at 6 p.m. The winner advanced to the Class 2 quarterfinals against the sectional winner between District 5 champs Clopton (16-13) and District 6 winner Schuyler County (21-7) on Saturday in Hannibal. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Saturday’s quarterfinal winner will advance to the Show-Me Showdown at Mizzou Arena next Friday and Saturday, March 13-14.