Franciscan 69, Bethany 67

Franciscan Starters
Malachi Rose-Burton, Sawyer Butler, Nicholas Allienello, Frank Bellissimo, Travis Zimmerman 

How It Happened 
    The Barons grabbed their first PAC win in the battle over the blue bridge in Bethany tonight. The victory snaps a series win streak for the Bison. This is the first Baron victory in the series since 2022. 
    The Barons took a deliberate approach to tonight's game. They used the complete shot clock and worked to slow down the Bison who were looking to press and speed up the tempo. The low number of possessions led to extremely low scoring and a close game for the entire first half. The Barons went a significant portion of the first half without their star guards and had to rely on quality minutes from Nathan Richards, Derrick Derrow, and Volodymyr Trotsko. Aidan Townsend came off the bench and had the best 20 minutes so far of his young career. Townsend and Travis Zimmerman led the way for the Barons with 11 points each going into half. 
    Mid-second half the Barons began to pull away and developed a nine point lead. After that they went on an offensive dry spell and allowed their opponents to bring it within striking distance. With under a minute, the Barons were up four. An unfortunate turnover was converted and their lead shrunk to two. Two possessions in a row the Bison fouled and the Baron free throw shooters missed their first attempt and avoiding putting the game away. However, the stiff defense held. After the second missed opportunity to end the game, the Bison stormed down the court and one of their guards had an open lane to the rim. His layup attempt was stuffed by Travis Zimmerman to retain the Baron lead. After two great defensive holds, the Bison had the last possession. With only six seconds the best they could do was dribble sideways across the three point line looking for an opening to shoot. Once again Travis Zimmerman was there to alter the attempt. After avoiding multiple nail-biting defensive possessions, the Barons come out on top and finish their streak of road games with a long needed home matchup this Saturday.

Inside the Numbers 
-The Barons dominated the glass grabbing 19 offensive rebounds
-The top 3 scorers for Franciscan were Butler, T. Zimmerman, and Townsend (16,15,15 respectively)
-Shooting continues to look improved from last year with 41% shooting from the floor
-Townsend's 15 is a career-high

Up Next 
Franciscan will return home to take on Thiel in a PAC matchup on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The Barons are 2-6 all-time against the Tomcats after they split their pair of meetings last season. The home team won each game last season with the Barons winning 61-59 in Sterubenville. Sawyer Butler converted a pair of free throws in the final seconds, and the Barons locked up on defense to give them the win in that game.

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