STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – The crowd was as loud as it has been all season for the final home game of the 2011-2012 Baron basketball season, and the 150 in attendance witnessed the best game of the year, Wednesday. The Franciscan University men's basketball team took the number two team in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference into overtime, ultimately losing, 64-57. 

After Daniel Kroening made two free throws the Barons had a three-point lead with 17 seconds remaining in regulation. La Roche's Derek Barber-Richards elevated above the Franciscan defense and drilled a long three-point shot to tie the score with eight seconds left and sent the game into overtime.

Franciscan got out to a quick start going up 9-2 in the first five minutes of play. The Barons did not give up that lead until there was 3:17 remaining on the clock in regulation, when Mike Dixon made a lay-up putting the Red Hawks up 42-40.

"The bottom line is we're starting to finally play our best basketball," FUS head coach John Lamanna said. "Obviously, the timing is not ideal, but in life the timing never seems to be ideal. All we can do is be thankful that we're starting to come together as a team and it's just unfortunate that there aren't more games left in the season for us."

The Barons played their best game of the year defensively, holding La Roche to 33 percent shooting on the night. Overall this season, La Roche is shooting 45 percent from the field, good for third best in the AMCC.

"Daniel Kroening, coming off of an injury, played the best game of his career and was huge for us tonight," Lamanna noted. "He was very poised and made great decisions with the basketball."

Kroening was one of three Barons who finished in double-digits, notching a team-high 16 points to go along with four rebounds. Nolan Albrecht finished with 13 points and five rebounds, and Frank Murray had 12 points on the night.

"I was really pleased with the effort and the execution of our guys tonight," Lamanna said.

The Barons will travel to Buffalo on Saturday for their final game of the season against D'Youville College; tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.