Franciscan 108, Bethany 89

Franciscan Starters 
Sean Hickey, Josh Zimmerman, Aidan Hickey, Travis Lien, Nicholas Allienello

Bethany Starters 
Klimchock, White Jr., Zimmerman, Uphold, Riggs

How It Happened 
    Last Night's round 1 matchup was between the #7 seed Barons versus the #10 seed Bison. The Barons jumped out to a quick 10 point lead, then were able to extend it to almost 20 points by halftime. The Barons were able to go deep into their bench and save minutes on their top guys, and still extend their lead 28 points. An exciting and resounding playoff win against the rival Bison, but the big story of the night was Sean Hickey. Sean so far has scored 476 points this season averaging 19 points/game. In his final year of playing, this amount of scoring catapulted him from 6th in all-time standings to 3rd. Last night he was only 8 points away from overtaking Jim Garrigan (1970-74) who had 1,670 career points. Sean's 16 point effort last night brings him to 1,678 career points with a playoff game tonight (2/22/22) and hopefully one or two more after that. Sean currently holds the single game scoring record at 41 points. The 476 points he has scored so far this season is the 2nd best recorded scoring season in Franciscan history. Sean has had an impressive career at Franciscan University. It was an emotional night to see Sean become 3rd all-time in scoring and get a playoff win in his last home game of his career. 
    The Barons are on a hot streak. The big upset versus Chatham on Saturday and an impressive victory last night in round 1 of the playoffs, is exactly the kind of momentum you want going into a tough Quarterfinal matchup versus Chatham University. Last night Josh Zimmerman and Travis Lien played some of their best basketball all season. Josh drove the lane and got to the rim at-will against the Bison, while continuing to be a defensive force to get through in the back court. Travis Lien is beginning to come to form. Travis' found success in the midrange, using his length to drive the rim or pull up. His specific skills and body size were difficult for the Bison to find an answer. Travis also anchored the forwards on defense, contesting and blocking shots, and preventing any easy points for the Bison. 



Inside the Numbers 
-Sean Hickey is 54 points away from the single season scoring record
-The Barons had 6 players in double digit scoring
-Sean Hickey and Yann Yonkeu led the Barons in rebounding with 6 each
-Joseph Ciola scored a career high 14 points
-11 Baron players saw 10 or more minutes of play
-The Barons shot the ball at an impressive 54.7% 

Up Next
Franciscan will hit the road tomorrow to face #2 Chatham in the PAC Quarterfinals. This will be the third time in eight days that these two teams will square off on the hardwood. This will be the rubber-match as well with the home team winning each of the previous two meetings. In last Saturday's matchup, Franciscan won 87-83 in front of a packed Finnegan Fieldhouse. Sean Hickey led the way for Franciscan with 32 points, including four made three pointers. Josh Zimmerman added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Chatham was able to rest since that game, as top six teams avoided the first round of the playoffs. 

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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