STEUBENVILLE, Ohio—Franciscan men's basketball stayed mentally focused in their last home game of the season, winning an exciting 61-56 game against conference opponent La Roche College. Senior captain Moses Sullivan finished his career on Kuzma Court with a team high of 19 points as the team continued to show character in the victory despite lost playoff hopes.

Though La Roche came into the game at 1-16 in conference play and 1-23 overall, the Redhawks stormed out of the gate, taking an early lead and finishing the half up 26-23.

It took just 24 seconds into the second half for freshman Keoni Sablan to sink a three, his first points of the night, and tie up the game. Seconds later, Sullivan penetrated La Roche's defense for a jump shot to pull ahead.

From there, the Barons led until seven minutes to go, when a series of free throws brought the Redhawks back into the game. The score wavered, with both teams trying to pull away. The Barons held a slim lead more often than not but found themselves tied up with 2:26 left. That's when sophomore point guard Jacob Divens showed his quality, getting a tough floater to bounce in and then hitting 4 of 4 free throws to put FUS in the drivers seat.

Though the Redhawks kept it within one score till the final moments, freshman Richard Cross sealed the deal, sinking two more foul shots with 3 seconds to play.

"It was exciting. It was a good way to end the season at home, and I'd say our character showed through very well tonight," head coach John Lamanna said. "We battled and it could have gone either direction, especially when they made their push late in the second half, but the bottom line is we stepped up and made plays on both side of the basketball to come out on top today."

One big playmaker for the Barons was Sablan, whose well-timed shots turned the tables in more than one crucial moment. The freshman guard, who averages 10.4 points a game, was held scoreless in the first half but came alive in the second, finishing the night in his usual position as the team's second leading scorer with 13 points.

"Keoni really had a breakout game tonight and we're talking about timing," Lamanna said. "It wasn't just scoring 13 points, he's done that before. It was when he scored those points that was huge."

Sablan was accompanied by Sullivan who finished the night with 19 points and 5 rebounds. Sullivan's ability drive and finish through contact at the rim kept Franciscan in the hunt during some otherwise dry offensive stretches. The senior has scored 19 or 20 points in each of the last three games.

"Moses really stepped up and had a great game." Lamanna said. "He just really efficient, made plays down the stretch and was very timely with his points as well. That 100 percent speaks to maturity."

Lamanna also noted the mental toughness of players like Cross and Divens who kept their cool to nail foul shots in crunch time. Cross finished with six points while Divens went 50 percent from the field for 12 points. The point guard also added five assists, three boards, and a steal.

"That is really strong production from a point guard," Lamanna said. "He was extremely efficient and I'm pleased with his defensive effort as well."

Divens said the trick to finishing in those high stress situations was to stay calm and focus on his role.

"It's the point guard's job to make plays, so I had to do what I had to do," Divens said. "Things went in today, thankfully, and we battled hard so we could win our last game at home."

The Barons had a particularly good shooting night as a team, averaging 41.7 percent from the field, 84.6 percent from the line, and a stunning 52.6 percent from beyond the arc.

"We are a good shooting team and statistically during the season we have not shown that, but finally tonight we showed our capabilities," Lamanna said. "The way we shot tonight is not abnormal if you were to watch us practice."

On the other end of the court the Barons continued to improve defensively, especially in the final moments of the game when two back to back defensive stops kept the game from going into overtime.

A key contributor defensively was freshman John-Paul Dombrowski, who matched up with Redhawk's top scorer Ames Bajgora and pulled down a team high of six rebounds.

"JP's defensive contribution to the game tonight was significant. It wasn't just six boards, but his overall presence in the paint," Lamanna said. "He did an excellent job."

While the team celebrates its sixth win and looks forward to its last game of the season, Lamanna said the Barons' aim is to end the season better than they started and break last year's program high with a seventh win.

As the Barons face D'Youville College on the road on Saturday, January 21 at 4pm, senior captain Sullivan has high hopes for the end of the season and his career as a Baron.

"As opposed to last year when we just lost the last couple games, finishing out strong feels excellent," Sullivan said. "We've just got to win Saturday. It's a team effort and everybody wants to finish strong so I think we're all going to put it together."