Men's Basketball | 12/14/2025 12:00:00 PM

Exhibition #2
Franciscan (5-2 | 0-0 PAC) vs. Wheeling (5-3 | 2-1 MEC)
Monday, Dec. 15th | 11:30 a.m.
WesBanco Arena | Wheeling, WV 

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The Latest
- The Barons lost an 86-82 overtime thriller against Washington and Jefferson.
- The Barons led 42-38 at halftime, but the Presidents stormed back and took the lead in the second half
- The Barons tied it up and had a chance to win in the final seconds before a controversial out-of-bounds call went in favor of the Presidents, sending it to overtime
- Sawyer Butler scored his 1,000th career point in the first half, making him the fastest Franciscan Baron to accomplish the feat
- He led the team with 24 points and eight rebounds
- Anthony Ciola had a career day, scoring 15 points in 25 minutes
- The Barons will travel to Wheeling, West Virginia to face Division II Wheeling University for their annual exhibition game on Monday, December 15th
- The game will be held at WesBanco Arena, home of the Wheeling Nailers Ice Hockey Team

Look Around the League
Scouting the Cardinals
- The Cardinals come into this matchup 5-3 overall with a 2-1 record in the Mountain East Conference of Division II
- They are led by redshirt freshman guard Ayden Goll, who averages 17.4 points per game 
- Senior guard/forward Caleb Murray also averages 11.9 points per game and junior forward Tee Harris Jr. adds 10.1 points and a team-leading 5.8 rebounds per game
- The Cardinals rank 4th in their conference in points per game, 5th in scoring defense, and 4th in margin of victory

All-Time Matchup
- This will be the fourth consecutive year the Barons and Cardinals have faced off in an exhibition, with those being the only matchups since Franciscan joined Division III
- The Cardinals have won the previous three meetings
- Prior to the Division III era, these teams played each other 19 times between 1957 and 1981, with the Barons leading the series 14-5
- That series included seasons when Franciscan was known as the College of Steubenville and Wheeling University was known as Wheeling College

How the Barons Stack Up
- The Barons are 2nd in the PAC in points per game with 83.9
- They are also 2nd in scoring defense, only allowing 71.0 points per game
- Their point differential margin of +12.9 is the best in the conference
- They are 4th in three-pointers made per game with 8.9
- The Barons are second in the conference in team free-throw percentage at 75.8%
- They are second in team rebounding at 41.0 per game
- They boast the second-best turnover margin in the PAC at +5.57

Big Time Butler
- He has scored 20+ points in 24 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 17th with 1,022 points on the all-time scoring ranks that go back to 1947. Above him are Mark Williams '77 with 1,030 and Matt Trent '20 with 1,060.
- Butler broke the program record for most free throws made by a Baron. He sits at 292, passing Sean Hickey '22, who held the record at 267. 
- With 126 assists, he is now eighth in the all-time rankings. Joe Schriner sits in 7th with 171 over his four-year career.
- His 140 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 25.0 points per game would be the highest ever single-season average by a Baron, and he is currently 7th across all of NCAA Division III in scoring.
- He is in the top 15 among all three levels of NCAA in scoring

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