STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan men's basketball team dropped a heart-breaking 74-72 loss to Penn State Altoona, Wednesday evening.
 
"It's unbelievable what's been going on in our gym now that the students are back," remarked head coach Joe Wallace. "I just hope that a disappointing performance like this doesn't sour their taste to coming back. With the rest of these games, we are going to need (the student-section). We need everything since our margin of error for winning a basketball game is so small, and that includes the incredible home court advantage this crowd brings, we just need to take advantage of it."
 
Despite leading by 10 at the half, the Barons struggled to get an offensive rhythm going in the second. Cameron Gardner-Nicholson opened the scoring in the second before junior Josh York and Jalen Archie-Davis traded jumpers on back-to-back possessions for the Barons and Lions. Penn State Altoona shrunk the deficit to four thanks to a pair of buckets from Austin Krise and Jack Kusters but junior Matt Trent hit a jumper and grabbed a defensive rebound to give the Barons the edge. Junior John Noce made the best of the possession as he finished off a layup to push the Franciscan lead back to eight, 48-40, with 15:25 to play.
 
The Lions kept the gap under eight, though the Barons seemed to have an answer for each of the Lions' buckets. With 9:07 to play, Archie-Davis hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead fown to three, 52-49, and junior Joe Schriner nailed a deep three just eight seconds later to push the lead back to six, 55-49. Penn State Altoona made it a two-point game, 57-55, but another three from Schriner gave Franciscan a 60-55 lead with 6:53 to play. The Lions then used an 8-4 run to make it a one-point game, 64-63 with 3:54 to play.
 
Schriner and Gardner-Nicholson then traded layups before a three from sophomore Sean Hickey pushed the Baron lead back to four, 69-65, with 2:19 left in regulation. The Lions used a 7-0 run over the next 1:37 to take their largest lead of the game, 72-69, with :42 left in the game. Schriner nailed another three-pointer with 23 seconds left to tie the game, but the Barons couldn't come up the stop they needed and Gardner-Nicholson grabbed an offensive board and got the put back with 2.3 left on the clock to seal the 74-74 win.
 
Franciscan controlled the pace of play in the first half and took its first double-digit lead, 18-8, with 10:54 to play in the opening period. The Lions hung around and chipped away at the lead, eventually narrowing the gap to five, 26-21, with 5:12 left. Trent hit a layup and senior Juwan Perkins drained a three to push the Baron lead back to double-digits, 31-21. Hickey hit a three and Noce hit the front end of a trip to the free throw line to give Franciscan it's largest lead until that point, 27-25, with 2:55 to play. A pair of Archie-Davis free throws cut to back to 10 but Schriner made a basket to get the lead back to 12, 39-27. Sophomore Joe Vernau gave Franciscan its largest lead for the contest with a good free throw at 1:38 but the Lions used a 5-2 run in the final 1:38 to stay within 10, 42-32, at the halfway mark.
 
Schriner led the Barons with 19 points for the game while Trent posted a 15-point, 13-rebound double-double. Hickey finished the day with 14 points while Noce chipped in 10 points, pulled down seven rebounds and handed out four assists.
 
"We talk about control and the four things you can actually in basketball," remarked Coach Wallace. "The first one is our defense, the second is playing without fouling, the third is playing without turning it over, and the fourth one is making the most of your free throw opportunities. And if you look down the stretch, and the whole game, we weren't making our free throws. Our defensive wasn't controlled and our free throws weren't in control. We had late turnovers and we weren't sharing the ball. It's hard to win basketball games when you don't control the things you can control."
 
Archie-Davis led all players with 21 points.
 
The Barons hit the road on Saturday as they travel to Pitt.-Bradford for a 4:00 pm Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference contest.
 
"When I am put in the corner, I do my best work and I am hoping everyone else in this program follows suit," continued Coach Wallace. "We are going to come out swinging. That's just this mentality of this program. We have had more tough moments than positive and we are battled tested. We will be ready to get out on the road and win."