MEADVILLE – Give Franklin County boys’ coach Chris Jordan timeand he’ll make anything look good. The general of high schoolbasketball coaches made sure of that Tuesday night in the firstround of the Class 3A South State Playoffs as his Bulldogseliminated Collins with 60-56 victory at Bulldog Arena.

The Bulldogs advance to South State, playing Choctaw CentralThursday at 4 p.m. in Kemper County.

FCHS (14-8) used the combo of forward Derek Bethley and guardMilton Griffin to pick Collins apart. Bethley, a 6-4 junior,finished with a game-high 22 points and 12 boards. Griffin scored11 points.

Junior Fred Coleman added 10 points for the Region 7-3A runner-upBulldogs.

Jordan’s Bulldogs trailed 35-32 at halftime, much because of foultrouble that plagued his team in the second quarter. Defensivelythe Bulldogs turned up the pressure in the second half to collectthe win.

“Our bench did a pretty good job keeping us in it,” said Jordan.”We did a good job rebounding the ball. Derek (Bethley) had apretty good game.”

Franklin County held Collins, the No. 3 seed out of Region 8-3A, tojust eight points in the third quarter to take a 46-43 advantageinto the final frame. Leading the Tigers were Lazarius Shelby with18 points and Harris Flowers with 12 points.

Three teams are still alive from Region 7-3A in Hazlehurst,Jefferson County, and the Bulldogs. Each will play in the SouthState tournament at Kemper County Thursday, for the right toadvance to action on Friday and Saturday.