Franciscan 61, Grove City 67

Franciscan Starters
Josh Zimmerman, Joseph Ciola, Colton Hage, Nicholas Allienello, Aidan Hickey 

Grove City Starters 
Bock, Cano, Yarberough, Suceveanu, Bryan

How It Happened 
    The Barons came into tonight coming off two grueling games. The team has been war-torn and battered. Tonight Joseph Ciola stepped up and played career high minutes, and had the second highest scoring night of his career with 13. Grove City held a single digit lead for most of the first half. In the last couple minutes they extended the lead to 11. The Barons were forced to play short-handed and lean into freshmen Malachi Rose-Burton and Frank Bellissimo due to foul trouble. With 9 minutes remaining in the second half Grove City had their largest lead of the night. Aidan Hickey and Josh Zimmerman shouldered the weight and racked the Wolverines over and over. In the final minute of the game, the Barons cut the lead from 11 to 5. Tonight's game was hard fought and will hopefully give the Barons a lift as they head into another game that is historically hard fought and close.

Inside the Numbers 
-Josh Zimmerman lead the Barons in scoring with 15
-Colton Hage lead the team with 8 rebounds
-The Barons scored 26 points in the paint
-Both teams shot under 40% from the field

Up Next 
    Franciscan will remain at home to take on Geneva on Saturday at 4pm. This will be a rematch of a close, hard-fought battle last December at Geneva. The Golden Tornadoes were able to win that matchup by a score of 81-71. Travis Lien led the way for the Barons with 21 points, while Colton Hage and Josh Zimmerman each scored double-digit points.

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