BUFFALO, N.Y. – Coming off the heels of a nail-biting overtime loss to La Roche College on Wednesday, the Franciscan University Barons had one more chance to notch their first win of the season as they traveled to D'Youville College on Saturday. Despite a strong first half effort, stellar rebounding and offensive contribution from young players, Franciscan ultimately fell to the Spartans, 79-62.

"We started off the game riding the momentum of the La Roche game in the first ten minutes of the first half," first-year head coach John Lamanna said, "but then we went on a real scoring drought and couldn't find the basket."

After missing their first three shots of the game, the Barons found themselves down 5-0. That is when Caleb Knorr got the offense rolling for Franciscan with a three-point shot from the corner. The two teams then traded baskets, and after a Joseph Spears layup made the score 14-14, the Spartans went on a 13-0 run to grab on to a lead that they would not relinquish.

"Their pressure got to us, which led to easy buckets for them that put us in a deficit that we were not able to truly recover from," Lamanna said.

One bright spot for the Barons on the night was their performance on the glass. They had 46 rebounds to D'Youville's 34.

"For the first time all season, we really controlled the boards," Lamanna noted. "That was one of our goals going into today's game."

The majority of the Franciscan offense on the day came from two freshmen, both recording double-doubles. Nolan Albrecht and Peter Amrein both recorded career highs in points and rebounds: Albrecht had a game-high 26 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks, and Amrein contributed with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

"I was pleased with how we competed until the final buzzer of the season," Lamanna said. "It is a real testament to the character of each individual in our program."