BUFFALO, N.Y— Franciscan men's basketball stepped up defensively and improved their 3-point shooting against Medaille College but were unable to overcome Medaille's first half lead, ultimately falling behind 68-51 in the final minutes of the game.

"We didn't come out overly competitive and that's what hurt us," head coach John Lamanna said. "It's something that we've been dealing with on and off all season but nothing that's consistent. We didn't experience it against Altoona, but we did experience it tonight."

Medaille put up 10 points in the first half before freshman guard Keoni Sablan sunk a three to start the Baron's scoring for the night. Although they remained not far behind, the green and gold was unable to gain the lead, finishing the second half down by 11 points.

The start of the second half saw Medaille up their lead to 20 points, but an increased defensive effort and several layups from senior guard Moses Sullivan and freshman guard Jonas McCaig kept the Mavericks in check, pulling Franciscan within nine points.

The last two minutes of the game saw Medaille widen the gap, as the Barons' foul trouble put Medaille at the free throw line with too much regularity.

"It was really how we started the game," Lamanna said. "We just dug ourselves in a hole with the eleven point differential at halftime from which we never recovered."

Turnovers were also an issue for the Barons. Franciscan finished with 15 turnovers, which led directly to ten points for Medaille.

Despite another tough shooting night, with an overall 37.9 field goal percentage, Sablan, Sullivan and freshman forward John Paul Dombrowski each finished with double digit scoring with 15, 14, and 11 points respectively.

Sablan was the team's high scorer for the night, knocking down three 3-pointers and several jump shots to keep the FUS offense alive.

Sullivan and Dombrowski each flirted with a double-double, finished with nine rebounds, and were the main reason Franciscan was able to out rebound the Mavericks 34 to 31.

Lamanna said the presence and leadership of the three standouts was especially encouraging from a long-term standpoint.

"Since the Mt. Aloysius game, we've been in a slide, struggling with scoring," Lamanna said. "Tonight we did a little better job scoring and so I think we're finally starting to see things work themselves back out. Those three speak to the future of what we have both now and outside of this year."