Franciscan 105, Penn St. New Kensington 59

Franciscan Starters 
Sawyer Butler, Karl Yonkeu, Zach Oliver, Malachi Rose-Burton, Thomas Kristian 

How It Happened 
    The Barons hosted the Penn State New Kensignton Lions for their 2025 Home Opener. It was a packed crowd in Finnegan Fieldhouse with the excitement and anticipation for the Barons to have yet another historic start to their season. They are fresh off their Oberlin Kickoff Tournament win, and the star-studded 2027 graduating class is red hot and have officially taken the reins to the program. The starters found success early allowing for the bench to play a majority of the minutes and score 75 of the Barons 105 points. The bench scoring is an all-time high that alone was good enough to be a 16 point victory. That group was led by freshman Zachary Pollaro who had a team-high 16 points in just 24 minutes off 5-8 shooting. Another freshman Anthony Covetta was right behind him with 15 points in just 19 minutes off 6-14 shooting. 
    The Barons came out of the gate in their signature full court press. Initially they struggled with on-ball defense allowing the Lion players who are natural drivers free paths to the basket. Thankfully, the "lenth" of the Barons aided their help side recovery to guard the basket and make the finish for the Lion driver as difficult as possible. As the on-ball defense tightened up the score differential blew up. By halftime, the Barons had built a 25 point lead.
    The Lions made second half adjustments to breaking the press, but the Barons countered by relaxing the full court press and high ball pressure in the half court. With each turnover, the Barons quickly transitioned down the floor extending their lead to as much as 42 late in the second half.
    The Barons 4-0 start to their season last year was the best start to a season since the early 70's and have a chance to beat that start with back-to-back AMCC opponents. 


    
Inside the Numbers 
- Three bench players scored in double-digits
- 15 different Barons found the bottom of the net
- The Barons never trailed in last night's contest

Up Next 
Franciscan remain at home to take on Penn State Behrend on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The Barons are 2-22 all-time against them, but the have not played them since the 2019-20 season. These two teams used to play each other twice a year, as they were both members of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC). Saturday's matchup will be the first time that it will be a non-conference setting. 

Stay Connected 
Be sure to follow Franciscan Athletics on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for the most in-depth coverage.