STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Franciscan men's basketball struggled to keep their energy up in their second game in as many days and fell in a close-fought game against D'Youville College 73-66.

Franciscan leaned heavily on senior forward Moses Sullivan who had 19 points to lead all scorers. His 13 points including a three-pointer in the final seconds of the first half had the Barons down one to start the second period.

"He's our senior and that's the role he should be playing for us," head coach John Lamanna said. "We've got to get the rest of our group playing around him."

The Barons fell behind thanks to some turnovers and missed shots midway through the second half. They were down by as much as 10 before they began to climb back.

With just under 10 minutes to go in the game, the Barons began a 13-3 run that ended with the Barons tying the game. Sullivan was once again instrumental in the run, hitting a jumper to tie the game with under four minutes to play.

"I really didn't have to tell them too much," Lamanna said. "They know what they need to do. We just talked about getting our energy level up. When we had good energy, we played well, and when we didn't have good energy, which was probably the vast majority of the game, we didn't play well."

Freshman forward John Paul Dombrowski also added nine second half points of his 13 to keep the Barons in the contest. Dombrowski faced his second straight tough matchup down low, this time playing against AMCC Defensive Player of the Year Julian Reed.

"J.P.'s coming along," Lamanna said. "He's developing very nicely. I'm impressed with the development. It seems like he keeps getting better and better and he plays with a level of consistency."

Despite the effort to pull themselves back to tie the game, the Barons fell behind again late and could only watch as D'Youville's free throws iced the game as Sullivan fouled out with about two minutes to go.

The loss makes for eight losses in a row after a promising 2-2 start to the season. The Barons hope to get their season back on track at home against Penn St.-Altoona on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 8 pm.