HAMBURG, N.Y.—Freshmen Keoni Sablan and John Paul Dombrowski's combined 33 points were not enough to recover from turnovers and a difficult shooting night on the perimeter, in the Franciscan men's basketball's 77-59 loss to conference opponent, Hilbert College.

Facing one of the toughest teams in the conference, the young Barons initially kept stride with Hilbert but fell behind by nine just before the half. The start of the second half solidified the loss, with FUS struggling in a few key areas.

"We just did not do a good enough job taking care of the ball tonight," head coach John Lamanna said of the team's 15 turnovers. He added that while maintaining offensive possession has been an ongoing challenge for the team, they have made progress.

"Our turnover margin improved by five from last game," he said. "It's just still not good enough."

Despite possession frustration, the performance of two freshman starters brought hope to the Barons, both scoring new career highs. Sablan, a shooting guard, led the team in scoring with 20 points, while forward Dombrowski contributed 14 points and nine rebounds. This was the first time the two have started and Lamanna said their leadership was significant for a team fielding seven freshmen and three sophomores.

"It's beautiful. It's great," Lamanna said. "Their achievements are very encouraging for us, looking forward to the rest of the season."

The team as a whole didn't shoot as well, particularly from long range. What is usually a strength for the Barons just wasn't there as Franciscan made just 5 of 24 3-point attempts.

On the defensive end, junior Christian Duke added seven rebounds against the undefeated Hawks, but the team as a whole could not keep pace on the back end of the court.

"We had defensive spurts, but overall we did not do well enough," Lamanna said.

The coach added that the biggest challenge this season is learning to gel as a team, given the number of newcomers.

"With so many new guys in our group, we're just constantly working on trying to continually improve and grow as a group," Lamanna said. "It's going to take time for us to come together."

The Barons will have one more shot at success before winter break with a road game against non-conference opponent Waynesburg University at 2pm on December 20.