Franciscan 74, Westminster 77

Franciscan Starters
Josh Zimmerman, Travis Lien, Colton Hage, Aidan Hickey, Garrett Lancaster  

Westminster Starters 
DePietro, Leone, Clark, O'Hara, Ray

How It Happened 
Senior night was full of celebration and commemoration in honoring the long-tenured young men who have dedicated many of their college years to Franciscan Basketball. Although the outcome of the night was not what anyone wanted from the Barons, it was a full display of hustle and effort that gained the respect from their competitors, fans, and coaches alike.

The Barons played hot in the first period of play as the superstar duo of Colton Hage and Josh Zimmerman picked up right where they left off and were draining shots left and right in route to the Barons building a 9-point lead going into halftime.

After a strong first half of play, the Barons came out of the locker room and were hit by multiple 3-point shots from the Titans. With the 9-point lead eradicated, the Barons knew that they would need to keep things even so that their chances of winning would not slip away. Freshman Frank Bellissimo decided to take matters into his own hands and knocked down a series of jump shots that kept the Barons within striking distance. Halfway through the 2nd period, veteran Travis Lien continued what his teammate had started and drained a few 3-point shots to keep things even against the Titans. As the clock began to wind down, this would not stop the remarkable play from the superstar tandem of Colton Hage and Josh Zimmerman as their efforts forced this game to come down to the wire. With 24 seconds remaining, Travis Lien tied the game with a highly contested 3-pointer. Titans' Leone quickly took the inbound pass and beat the Barons down the floor to sneak in a layup plus a foul. With 5 seconds remaining in the game the Barons were down 3. The Titans broke up the Barons play, so Josh Zimmerman was forced to improvise. He took the inbound pass and beat two defenders. Zimmerman then found Colton Hage up the sideline. Hage had enough time to take one dribble then pullup with a defender in his face. His shot was around 35' away from the basket. The ball was dead straight, but just a fraction short and bounced off the front of the iron. A heartbreaking finish to a hard-fought game.

Inside the Numbers 
-Travis Lien had a game-high 23 points
-The Barons had four players in double figures
-Yann Yonkeu had a season-high and tying his career-high with 12 rebounds
-The Barons had one of their best shooting nights going 43% from the field and 35% from 3pt

Up Next 
    Franciscan will conclude the 2022-23 season with a pair of road games. They will return to action at Waynesburg on Wednesday night for their Senior Night. These two teams battled each other in January with the Yellow Jackets winning by 12 points. Five players scored in double figures for the Barons, but the duo of Popeck and Baker scored 20+ points to lead Waynesburg to victory. 

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