STEUBENVILLE, Oh.— Franciscan University men's basketball team experienced a disappointing loss to Hilbert College this afternoon, losing 87-51 during the 5th Annual Hank Kuzma Community Day.

Although the Barons started out the game strong, foul trouble on sophomore forward Joseph Rine fifteen minutes into the first half, led to several runs and a 25 point lead for Hilbert by the half. The team rallied to narrow the second half score, but despite several fast break offensive boards near the end of the game, were unable to make up the difference.

"The foul trouble of the first half changed the whole game. The end of half situation is an area that we need to improve on," head coach John Lamanna said, adding that the consistency of Franciscan's reserves has also been a struggle. "When we go to our bench, we need to be able to keep the game within reach."

This is something Lamanna attributes to the Barons young team which is comprised of mostly freshmen and sophomores .

"Our biggest issue is lack of experience," Lamanna said. "Lack of maturity is what it comes down to."

One bright spot for the Barons was freshman guard Justin Horstman, who scored 22 points on the night, several under double-teamed pressure, and contributed energy and confidence to the team throughout the entire game.

"I was pleased with how Justin played again tonight. He keeps improving each and every game," Lamanna said. "We're going to continue to work with him on trying to help him improve,"

Another player who contributed a strong effort was guard Peter Mooney, who gave the Barons 10 minutes on the court after rejoining the team this past Wednesday's. Mooney played for the Barons in the 2011-12 season but was focusing on soccer earlier in the season.

While the Barons look forward to their upcoming game against University of Pitt-Greensburg, Lamanna said they will be working on defensive rebounding and reduced turnovers.

"As we continue to go through this learning process of being a team we're going to have games that are going to look good and we're going to have games that look really bad," Lamanna said. "It's just a process that we 've got to stick with and keep growing with."

The Barons will travel to Greensburg Pennsylvania this Wednesday, December 5th to take on the Panthers. Tip-off is at 8pm.