Franciscan 81, Bethany 74

Franciscan Starters
Sawyer Butler, Josh Zimmerman, Travis Zimmerman, Nicholas Allienello, and Aiden Townsend 

How It Happened 
    Last night, the 6th place Barons took on the last place Bison of Bethany College. Bethany is located just across the Ohio river up in the hills of West Virginia. Here this rivalry game is coined "The Battle for the Bridge", referring to the Ohio-West Virginia shared, historic bridge, the Market St. Bridge. The Barons jumped out of the gates on a rampage and knocked the Bison down so hard there was almost no getting up. They put up a fight late, but a couple of clutch free throws from Yann Yonkeu sealed the deal and the Barons improved to 7-7 in PAC play. 
    Knocking the Bison down early is a bit of an understatement. In the first five minutes, the Barons racked up 4 steals, 3 blocks, 4-4 from 3pt, one dunk, and a 17 point lead. That Ali flurry sent the Bison back to the bench in an early timeout to regroup. Surprisingly, the lineup the Bison found success with didn't include their All-Conference forward Dailey. Their slow claw back into the game came on the back of offensive rebounding. They amassed 28 offensive rebounds leading to 20 second chance points. The Barons had 15 ORebs, but only 8 second chance points. That disparity is, in large part, the difference between the Barons maintaining their almost-20 point early lead and the close game we saw at the end. 
    With one minute remaining, the Barons were down one and the pressure was on. Prior to this moment the Bison had only held the lead for 19 seconds. Now, the Barons had less than 60 seconds to get back on top and secure the win. Transitioning quickly down the floor, Josh Zimmerman sliced through the Bison zone and found Butler on the perimeter after the Bison collapsed on him. Butler knocked down the three-pointer and put the Barons back on top. His shot made the second Bison lead another shortly-lived one. The biggest big-man in the conference Yann Yonkeu was subbed in. He did his job and cleaned up a missed Bison shot. That defensive rebound was the most important rebound in the game, when all game the Bison were relying on gathering up the long offensive rebounds. His role in the stop, preventing the Bison from tying or taking the lead, was all that was asked of him. However, the Barons came down and found Yonkeu open near the rim. He was hammered on his way up sending the career 45% FT shooter to the line to shoot two with a two-point lead and only 30 seconds remaining. Misses here would give Bethany a chance to tie or take the lead, but Yonkeu decided two makes made it a two possession game and out of reach for the Bison. Yonkeu had a solid performance in his 10 minutes on the floor, but it all paled in comparison to those 30 seconds. A few more trips to the free throw line later, and the Barons cruised their way to a 7-point win over the Bison.
    
Inside the Numbers 
-Bulter's 24 points is his 11th 20+ point performance this season
-Karl Yonkeu's 11 points is a season-high 
-Travis Zimmerman added 4 offensive rebounds to slightly bump his season average
-The 10 Baron blocks ties the program record for blocks in a game

Up Next 
Franciscan will head on the road to take on Thiel on Saturday. The Barons beat the Tomcats in Steubenville on December 7th by a score of 58-54. Sawyer Butler led all scorers with 22 points, including 8-8 shooting from the free throw line. The Tomcats are just below the Barons in the PAC standings, as a Franciscan win would go a long way to secure the Barons tiebreaker over them at the end of the season.

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