BETHANY, W.Va.—The Franciscan University men's basketball team traveled to Bethany College to take on the Bison in their last non-conference game of the season Tuesday night. Due to a 34-7 tilt favoring Bethany in points off the bench, the Bison rolled to an easy 92-65 victory, pushing Franciscan to a 1-7 season standing.

"The big thing tonight was their bench," said Baron head coach Sean Donovan. "They've got lots of depth." 

Bethany, who shot a season-high 57% from the field, took over the game just midway through the first half, using a 13-2 run to expand a six-point lead to a 33-18 lead. The Bison team never looked back, expanding its lead to 45-29 at the half and holding control for the remainder of the game.

"In the first half we hung with them for the most part," Donovan added. "They were hitting their shots. They've got a nice, very athletic, good shooting team. They move the ball extremely well and we got caught on our heels a little bit. But we just had an off-night, I really believe that."

The Barons could not get any sort of rhythm going offensively, committing 19 turnovers on the evening compared to Bethany's seven.

With the loss now behind them, Coach Donovan and the Barons continue to look forward to their 15 remaining games after the holiday break. "We're riding the momentum from our first three conference games. We're starting to see Zachary Miser really start to take a bigger role offensively and Thomas Kleinschnitz has been really consistent," said Donovan.

Kleinschnitz, the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference scoring leader averaging 18 points per game, led the Barons offensively with 18 on the night. Miser, who has scored in the double-digits in six of Franciscan's eight games, contributed 15 as well. Nate Stanton and Connor Flanagan finished with 12 and 10, respectively, rounding out the high-scorers for the Barons on the night.

"We'll get back into it," Donovan commented, "and we'll be looking to get lots of wins right in a row." The Barons remain 1-2 in the AMCC. They are back in action January 5, hosting the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. Game time is scheduled for 8 p.m.