BETHANY, W. Va. – The Franciscan men's basketball team battled until the final horn but fell to non-conference opponent, Bethany (W. Va.), 79-63, Monday night.

The lead changed hands eight times throughout the night and the Baron and Bison found thee score tied 12 different times.

"We had value possessions tonight," remarked head coach Joe Wallace following the game. "We had ten assists and eight turnovers. The score is what it is, but with six minutes left it was in the single digits and we were still fighting. Our defense does have to keep improving but it was a heck of an effort by everyone involved tonight. This has been our thing this year; we stick together through this tough time. I can see the positives start to come for this group."

The eight turnovers for the Barons is the fewest turnover total for a Baron squad since the middle of the 2014-15 season.

The first two ties came within the first 3:17 as Calique Jones tied the game at 4-4 with a layup. On their very next possession, the Barons took their second lead of the game as junior Keoni Sablan sunk a deep three-pointer thanks to an assist from freshman Joe Schriner with 16:24 to play. Two trips to the free throw line gave the Bison a 9-7 lead over the next two minutes and Bethany pushed the tempo and took an eight-point lead at 26-18 with 4:59 left in the first half.

Down eight, the Barons didn't back down and junior Garrison Holmes grabbed a defensive rebound and drove to the basket and finished off the fast break with a layup to cut the lead to 22-18 with 4:05 to play. After a Bison layup on their next two possessions, Franciscan pulled to within two, 26-24, thanks to a layup from Holmes and sophomore Juwan Perkins. With 2:18 to play, Bethany pushed its lead back to four, 28-24, but Perkins answered with a layup and sinking the free throw after a foul and the Barons trailed by just one with under two to play. Chris Harris did his part with a layup to extend the Bison lead back to three, but Schriner continued his hot shooting from beyond the arc and hit a deep three with 1:02 showing to tie the game at 30-30.

The Barons kept the pressure on the Bison and Bethany turned the ball over under their basket. The Barons missed a free throw but couldn't get a jumper to fall and Holmes grabbed the rebound and the two teams headed into the locker room tied 30-30.

The two teams continued to match each other basket for basket as Franciscan took its final lead of the contest with 11:09 to play thanks to a pair of free throws from Perkins to give the Barons a 53-51 lead. The Bison used a 7-2 run to re-take the lead at 58-55 and held off a hungry Baron offense for the final 8:52.

After Bethany pushed the lead to 11 after a pair of free throws, Schriner once again hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit back to single digits at 67-59. The Bison answered with a three of their own but a free throw from Perkins kept the lead to just 10, 70-60.

The Bison took their largest lead of the game with just 55 seconds left in the game at 79-61 but freshman Michael Mendicino kept driving a drew a foul under the basket. Mendicino hit both free throws with 29 seconds left to bring the score to its final at 79-63.

Perkins led the Barons with 17 points while Holmes finished the day with 15 points after shooting 60% from the floor (6-for-10) and went 3-for-4 from the free throw line. Schriner added 11 points for the Barons and Sablan posted 10 points with two assists and five rebounds.

"Juwan and Joe maybe get the toughest bark and bite from me in practice," said coach Wallace. "Joe especially the last week I have been really hard on him. But he played like I wanted him to play tonight. He was efficient and took great shots. And Juwan is becoming what we want him to become, an extra-tier athlete."

Franciscan returns to AMCC action on Wednesday when the Barons welcome Penn State Altoona to Kuzma Court for an 8pm tip off.