STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Sophomore Keoni Sablan posted his second-most points of the season but it wasn't enough as Hilbert took a 78-64 victory from the Franciscan University men's basketball team, Saturday afternoon. 

Sablan ended the day with 25 points, just one shy of his career and season best while senior guard Christian Duke chipped in 12 for the Barons. Sophomore John Paul Dombrowski led FUS with nine rebounds and four blocks.

Franciscan led for just over half of the opening period, building a 20-12 lead behind six points from Duke and eight from Dombrowksi but the Hawks slowly chipped away and took a 21-20 lead with 8:18 to play in the first. Jalen Smith hit a three for the Hawks with 5:42 to playbut Sablan answered with one of his own to keep Hilbert close, 31-30.

The Hawks closed out the first half on a 13-6 run, however, to take a 44-36 lead into halftime.

The Barons came out of the intermission fighting and pulled within four after a 6-2 run opened the second half. But four points would be as close as the Barons would get to the Hawks as used eight unanswered points midway through the second to take a 54-44 lead.

The Hawks continued to build on their lead and took a 14-point lead, their largest up until that point, at 5:32 but the Barons kept pushing and a layup from Sablan cut the lead back to 10, 72-62, with 2:15 left on the clock.

Smith hit a layup with seven seconds remaining to give Hilbert a 78-62 lead but Sablan's layup as time expired brought the score to its final, 78-64.

Franciscan shot 43.9% (25-57) from the floor and was 10-18 from the free throw line while the Hawks were 31-67 from the floor (46.3%) and 11-15 from the line.

Dombrowski's four blocks were a season best and tied the second most in a game in the sophomore's career.

The Barons close out the fall semester as the host Bethany (W. Va.) on Thursday in a 7:00 p.m. tip off.