STEUBENVILLE – The Franciscan men's basketball team earned the No. 6 seed in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference tournament for the first time in program history and will head to the third-seeded Medaille Mavericks for the opening round game on Wednesday at 7:00 pm.
 
Live Game Coverage
Live Stats (Provided by Medaille)
Live Video (Provided by Medaille)
 
Game Preview
The Barons and Mavericks will square off against each other for the third time this season after the two teams split the season-series. Each team won on their home court as the Barons won 72-69 in overtime at Kuzma Court and the Mavericks claimed a 75-61 victory in Buffalo in early December. In the Barons' win, junior Matt Trent (Cleveland, OH/Trinity) led all players with 17 points and 12 rebounds while sophomore Sean Hickey (North Olmstead, OH/Holy Name) posted 12 points, including three of the team's four three-pointers. Franciscan led by 11 with just under five minutes to play but the Mavericks battled back and tied the game at 61 with three seconds left in regulation. The Barons out-scored the Mavericks 11-8 in overtime thanks to nine good free throws for Franciscan and they overcame a six-point deficit in the extra period to win.
 
Franciscan enters the game with 13-12 overall record and a 9-9 slate in the AMCC to earn the No. 6 seed. The Mavericks are 13-12 for the year and ended the regular season 11-7 in conference to earn the No. 3 seed.
 
Last Time Out
Franciscan enters the game riding a three-game winning streak to wrap up the regular season. The Barons clinched their spot in the playoffs after knocking off Pitt.-Greensburg in an overtime thriller last Wednesday thanks to a buzzer-beater from Hickey. Franciscan ended the regular season with a win at D'Youville on Saturday.

The Mavericks are 2-1 in their final three games of the regular season. The Mavericks picked up wins over D'Youville and Mount Aloysius with a loss to Penn State Behrend sandwiched in between. The Mavericks win over Mount Aloysius wrapped up the No. 3 seed for Medaille.
 
Key Contributors
Franciscan
• Hickey leads the team with 15.2 points per game this season and is third in the AMCC in scoring
• Hickey set the single-season three-pointers made record for Franciscan and has 75 so far this year
• Trent leads the team with 9.5 rebounds per game and is second on the team averaging 13.1 points per game
• Against Hilbert in January, Trent set the program's career rebounding record and has 585 rebounds in his career
• Junior John Noce (Brewster, NY/John F. Kennedy Catholic) leads the team with 92 assists this season and is sixth in the conference
• Noce also leads the team in steals with 41
• Junior Josh York (Russia, OH/Russia Local) leads the team with 21 blocks this year and is second on the team with 160 rebounds
• York leads the team with 50.0% shooting percentage (72-for-144)
 
Medaille
• Meghale Ford leads the Mavericks with 11.8 points per game
• Jonathan Smith leads the team with 7.1 rebounds per game
• Will Saunders has handed out a team-best 75 assists
• Kirk Hawkins is second on the team in scoring (11.2 ppg) and leads the team and the conference with 56 steals
 
The winner of the No. 3 Medaille/No. 6 Franciscan match up will play the second-seeded Penn State Behrend on Saturday at La Roche in Pittsburgh, PA.
 
MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET
 
First Round: Wednesday, February 20
#6 Franciscan at #3 Medaille, 7pm
#5 D'Youville at #4 Mount Aloysius, 7pm
Byes: #1 La Roche and #2 PS-Behrend
 
Championship Round at #1 La Roche College
Semifinals: Saturday, February 23
5pm:  #1 La Roche v. winner of 5v4
7pm:  #2 PS-Behrend v. winner of 6v3
 
Finals: Sunday, February 24, 3pm