Game #5
Franciscan (4-0 | 0-0 PAC) vs. Penn St. Altoona (2-3 | 0-0 AMCC)
Saturday, Nov. 22nd | 2:00 p.m.
Adler Arena | Altoona, Pa.

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The Latest
- The Barons put together an impressive 80-65 win over a solid Penn State Behrend team last Saturday
- Sawyer Butler led the way with 27 points and seven rebounds
- 10 players saw significant minutes in the balanced team effort
- The Barons will travel to Altoona this Saturday to play their third straight Penn State branch

Scouting the Lions
- The Lions come into this game 2-3, fresh off a 101-94 win against Pennsylvania College of Technology on Wednesday
- They defeated Franciscan's PAC rival Chatham 82-77 on November 12th
- The Lions have averaged 76.0 points per game and allowed 87.4 points per game
- Junior forward Nehemiah Frye leads the team with 13.8 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game

All-Time Matchup
- Franciscan has a deep history with Penn State Altoona from their time in the AMCC
- The Barons are 5-20 all-time against the Lions
- The Barons have won two of the last four matchups
- Their last matchup came in the 2019-20 season, which the Barons won 101-98 in a double overtime thriller
- Sean Hickey '22 led the way with 27 points and Travis Lien '23 had 22 points and six rebounds 

Historic Start Continues
- The Barons have started 4-0 for the second season in a row. 
- You have to go all the way back to the 1964-65 season for the last 5-0 start in program history. Head Coach John Bayer led the Barons to a 21-4 record that season. They opened up the year with wins at Marshall before home wins against Kentucky Wesleyan, Quincy College, Saint Francis (Pa.), and Gannon.

Big Time Butler
- He has scored 20+ points in 22 games so far in his collegiate career. He has scored 30+ points five times, including each of the first two games of the 2025-26 season.
- Sawyer Butler sits 25th with 954 points on the all-time scoring ranks that go back to 1947. Above him are John Clark '59 with 958, Bob Maher '60 with 961, and Bill Rahuba '61 with 967.
- Butler broke the program record for most free throws made by a Baron over the weekend. He sits at 270, passing Sean Hickey '22 who held the record at 267. 
- With 121 assists, he now tied with Sam Titus for eighth in the all-time rankings.
- His 125 steals are the third most by a Baron all-time. Sean Hickey is second with 158, and Josh Zimmerman holds the record with 259. 
- His 26.8 points per game would be the highest ever single-season average by a Baron, and he is currently in the Top 20 across all of NCAA Division III in scoring.

New Faces Stepping Up
- Three of the top five leading scorers for the Barons are newcomers
- Freshman Zach Pollaro is second on the team with 11.8 points per game, leads the team in field goal percentage at 62.5% (among players with at least 10 shot attempts), and leads in three-point field goal percentage at 60%
- Wooster transfer Zach Oilver is 4th in scoring at 10.5 points per game and leads the team in rebounding at 6.8 per game
- Freshman Anthony Covetta is 5th in scoring at 8.5 points per game in only 15.5 minutes per game

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