Grove City 84, Franciscan 81

Franciscan Starters 
Sean Hickey, Tristan McDannell, Benjamin Klement, Josh Zimmerman, Nicholas Allienello

Grove City Starters 
Robinson, Rose, Bryan, White, McCray

How It Happened 
    The Barons traveled to Grove City, Pa. for their PAC rematch. The game came down to the wire, and be decided by the final possession. Unfortunately, the Barons drove home suffering a tough 84-81 defeat. The Baron offense was slow to start, but the defense was good, so the game started uncharacteristically low scoring. Aidan Hickey was the first off the bench, and he hit 2 three's, doubling his season total, and accounting for 6 of the Barons 11 starting points. This was exactly what the Barons needed to get things going. The Grove City flex offense created lots of troubles for the Barons at the rim. In summation, the first half was the sight of two well-prepared focused teams. Turnovers were almost non-existent and defensive lapses leading to easy points were non-existent. At halftime, Grove City had 5 turnovers and the Barons had 2. 
    The second half was all about the free throw line. The Barons had multiple players in foul trouble, and put Grove City in the double bonus with over 10 minutes remaining in the game. Thankfully for the Barons, Grove City did not convert their free throws well, and the Barons were able to stay in the game. For 20 minutes it felt like the same story repeated. Franciscan shooters would make huge plays coupled by a forced turnover or defensive stop, and bring the game to within 2 points. Then they would either commit a foul, give up an easy bucket, take a bad shot, and be back to down 7. This cycle repeated three or four times until the last couple minutes of the game. In the remaining seconds, the Barons foul sending Grove City to the foul line to shoot two. Grove City converts both shots putting them up 3 points. Franciscan called timeout and presumably set up a play to get a three and tie the game. The Barons found a way to get the ball to Sean Hickey, but Grove City defended the play well. Sean worked to try and find himself a shot. The rest of Barons on the floor stood watching and hoping the 5th year senior could make a magical play to force overtime. Sean couldn't find the opening and dished it off. The rest of the Barons on the floor had nothing going, so Sean was forced to sprint out to the volleyball line 35 feet from the rim to get a shot off. The shot was off target, and time expired as the ball fell out of bounds.

Inside the Numbers 
-The Barons had only 3 turnovers a new all-time record
-Sean Hickey led the game in scoring with 20 points
-Josh Zimmerman led the team in steals with 3
-Tristan McDannell led the team in assists with 4
-The Barons shot 39.7% from the field.

Up Next
Franciscan will return home on Saturday to take on Waynesburg at 3 p.m. The Barons fell to the Yellow Jackets earlier this season at their place, by a score of 75-67. In the previous matchup, scoring was sparse in the first half, as Waynesburg took a 25-24 lead into the break. Both teams would get their offenses going in the second half, as Sean Hickey would lead all scorers with 21 points, but Waynesburg would edge out Franciscan. Nijon Kirkman had a big double-double with 13 points and 18 rebounds for the Yellow Jackets.

Baron Summer Camps
Franciscan University Athletics is partnering with Steubenville Conferences to offer summer sports camps in conjunction with the Steubenville Main Campus 1 (June 9-12th, 2022) and 3 (June 23-26th, 2022). Youth Conferences. Participants will be able to strengthen both their athletic skills and their relationship with Christ in this uniquely Franciscan hybrid experience. Men's and Women's Basketball are just a couple of the sports that will be included, check out more info on our Baron Summer Camps Page.

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