Penn State Beaver 91, Franciscan 82  

Franciscan Starters 
Justin Mack, Sean Hickey, Tristan McDannell, Garrett Lancaster, Josh Zimmerman

Penn State Beaver Starters 
Johnson, Dickerson, Green, Avery, Redwin

How It Happened 
The Barons started their season with a home opener against the Penn State Beaver Nittany Lions. The Barons would lose 91-82. The high-tempo of the Barons play got them off to a fast early lead. With less than 5 minutes remaining in the first half, Beaver went on a 13-0 run, bringing the score to 36-30. The big run was on the back of Penn State's Johnson who had 26 points in the first half, off 8-12 from the field, and 6-10 from three point. The Barons refocused and zero'd in on their senior leadership, and Sean Hickey found his shot. Hickey hit two three's in the remaining one and half minutes in the first half. The second of the two three's was a highly contested shot with only 8 seconds remaining. This brought the Barons to within 5 points, but Beaver's Johnson zig-zaged down the floor through a tight Baron defender, and hit a 28' contested three as time expired. Penn State Beaver went into halftime leading 44-36.
In the second half, the Barons high-tempo and aggressive press caused havoc for Beaver. It took strong bench play for the Barons to mount a run and try to get the lead back. Freshmen Derrick Derrow and Benjamin Klement came off the bench, and brought energy in the press. Derrow added a couple offensive rebounds and easy put-backs, and Klement hit two big three's from the corner. In the end, turnovers and missed easy shots prevented the Barons from closing the gap. 

Inside the Numbers 
-Justin Mack had 21 points
-Tristan McDannell had 4 steals
-Nicholas Allienello had 10 rebounds
-The Barons had 21 points off the bench
-Barons shot 63.6% from the free throw line

Up Next 

The Barons will get right back after it on Sunday, as Penn State Fayette comes to Steubenville for a 4 pm tip. This will be the second time these two teams have faced each other in program history. In the previous matchup in 2011, the Lions were able to come out on top by a score of 67-63. Four Barons scored in double figures, but they were not able to overcome the nine point halftime deficit. This will also be the Lions second game of the regular season, as they played Westmoreland County Community College on Thursday evening. 

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