ERIE, Pa. – The Franciscan University men's basketball team was plagued by cold shooting in the second half as the Barons fell to Penn State Behrend 68-42 Saturday afternoon.

The Barons jumped out to an early 10-2 lead in the first as sophomore Thomas Rush hit a pair of layups in the first five minutes. Zane Hackett halted a six-point run by Franciscan with a layup at 13:54 to cut the FUS lead to 10-4. Sophomore Keoni Sablan hit his first three of the game to extend the Baron lead to 13-4 with 12:27 to play. Andy Niland answered with his own three and kicked off a 10-0 run for the Lions to give them their first lead of the game, 14-13 with 8:56 to play.

The two teams traded baskets as the lead changed hands twice and was tied once over the next two minutes before the Lions took the lead for good at 21-18 with 6:21 showing. The Lions built an eight point lead over the next three minutes but the Barons wouldn't go quietly and finished the half on a 7-2 run. The Lions took a 31-28 lead into the locker room.

The Barons shot 42.9% (12-for-28) from the floor in the first half including three three-pointers.

Neither team scored a point until the 16:31 mark in the second half, but the Lions used a 9-3 run over the next three minutes to build a nine-point lead. Sablan hit his second three of the game to cut the lead back down to 40-34. The two teams traded baskets and the Lion lead stayed in the single digits until Matt Colpoys made a layup 9:31 to play to give PSB its first double-digit lead. Penn State Behrend closed out the game outscoring the Barons 15-4 to earn the 66-42 victory.

Sophomore Jonas McCaig led the Barons in scoring in back to back games as he chipped in nine points in 14 minutes on the floor. Sophomore John Paul Dombrowski led the Barons with six rebounds while nine different players pulled down a board for FUS. The Barons finished the game shooting 32.7% (17-52) and 25% (5-20) from the three point arc.

Franciscan continues its AMCC road trip as the Barons head to D'Youville tomorrow to take on the Spartans at 1:00 pm.