Franciscan 72, Saint Vincent 76

Franciscan Starters
Josh Zimmerman, Sawyer Butler, Nicholas Allienello, Thomas Kristian, Travis Zimmerman 

How It Happened 
    Coming into the night both the Franciscan Barons and St Vincent Bearcats were on a two game losing streak, and both were looking for their first PAC win of the season. Right out of the gates the Barons half court defense was crippling for the Bearcats and on the offensive end things were clicking. Franciscan shot a season best 64% from the field in the first half including 43% from 3pt. The defense held the Bearcats to a miserable 32% shooting in the half. However, heading into the break the Barons enjoyed a small four point lead. The difference between their small lead and what could have been a demoralizing 20 point lead was turnovers and giving offensive rebounds. 
    In the second half the turnovers and offensive rebounds continued to trouble the Barons. Then the Bearcat shooters got hot and began knocking down three's. Franciscan found themselves in a double digit point hole. For the middle third of the second half the teams traded buckets. As the clock ticked slowly down the Barons were forced to turn up the pressure and move into their press. With less than four minutes, the Barons still trailed by 14 points. After pressing for several minutes and seeing no gain in the deficit, their efforts finally began to bear fruit. The Barons evaporated the lead in two short minutes. Down two with less than a minute left, Butler drove through the lane and was fouled. He went to the line and sank both of his free throws to tie the game. On the other end of the floor, the Bearcats' Ostrowski hit a contested corner three, his seventh of the game, to put the Barons back down three. Franciscan had one opportunity to tie the game back up. Butler came off a ball screen and had a little bit of space to get a shot off. His attempt was blocked ending the Franciscan comeback. 

Inside the Numbers 
-The Barons shot a season-high 62% from the field
-3 second chance points is uncharacteristically low for the Barons
-21 turnovers is the third game this season with 20+ turnovers

Up Next 
Franciscan will take some time off for Thanksgiving break before returning to action at Bethany on Wednesday, December 4th. Franciscan is looking to return to their winning ways against the Bison, as Bethany has won the last two meetings. Before that stretch, Franiscan had won six of the last seven matchups. The Bison have showed the ability to score this season, as they have scored 100+ points three times thus far this season. 

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