Game #4
Franciscan (3-0 | 0-0 PAC) vs. Penn St. Beaver (1-3 | 0-0 PSUAC) 
Saturday, Nov. 16th | 4:00 p.m.
Steubenville High School | Steubenville, Ohio

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The Latest
- The Barons improved to 3-0 on the 2024-25 season with an 88-67 win over Penn State New Kensington in the home opener on Tuesday evening. 76 points came from the starting five, as Sawyer Butler led the way with a season-high 27 points. Josh Zimmerman scored 18, Travis Zimmerman scored 16, and Frank Bellissimo scored 11. The Barons won the rebounding, turnover, and free throw battles in a convincing win at Finnegan Fieldhouse.

Scouting the Lions 
- Last season, the Lions held a 6-20 record with one of those losses coming to Franciscan 64-62 on the Lions' home floor.

- The Lions are off to a 1-3 start this season. They just fell to Bethany 95-87 on Wednesday night. 

- Four different players are averaging double-digit points this season. #1 Jermaine Knaff is leading the way with 13.0 ppg while shooting 53.8% from beyond the arc.
   
Sawyer's Streak
- Sawyer Butler, the reigning PAC Player of the Week,  has scored 20+ points in six straight games dating back to last season. 

- His 27 points against Penn St. New Kensington are the most he has scored in a game since he dropped 30 on Grove City in a win against the Wolverines last season.

Historic Start 
- This is the first time the Barons started a season 3-0 since the 1974-75 season. In that start, Head Coach Tim Sommerville led the Barons to wins over the Czechoslovakia National Team (90-73), Dyke College (97-62), and Kent State (80-70). You have to go one year farther back in the archives to see the last 4-0 start. In 1973-74, the Barons picked up wins over Clarion, Malone, Buffalo State, and Central Michigan to start that season 4-0.
 
Zimmerman Tracker 
- Josh Zimmerman just climbed into 8th on the all-time scoring list that goes back to the College of Steubenville days. He enters this game with 1,184 points. John Blanda '60 sits in seventh with 1,195 points. Sean Hickey '21 holds the Franciscan Division III record with 1,692 points, and Paul Brownlee '56 sits atop the all-time rankings with 2,433 points.

- He is closing in on becoming the all-time leader in assists. He sits in second with 265. With 23 assists this season, he will pass Jacob Divens '18 (277) to become the program leader. That will be his second major program record, as he is the program's all-time leader in steals with 196 coming so far.

- He sits 14th all-time in rebounding with 601 boards. Al Canty '70 sits one spot above him in 13th with 610 rebounds. Matt Trent '20 holds the Franciscan Division III record with 781 rebounds, and "Big" Jim Smith '58 sits atop the rankings and all levels of collegiate basketball with 2,334 rebounds.
 
OVAC Represented
- Four Barons played in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference (OVAC) during their high school careers. Josh Zimmerman (Steubenville) gets the chance to play in the Crimson Center one last time on Saturday, as he is in his final collegiate season. 

- Travis Zimmerman (Wheeling Park), Malachi Rose-Burton (Monroe Central), and Derrick Derrow (John Marshall) will step foot on one of the best venues in the OVAC once again this Saturday. 

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