Game #23
Franciscan (17-5 | 9-4 PAC) vs. Allegheny (9-13 | 7-6 PAC) 
Saturday, Feb. 14th | 3:00 p.m. 
David V. Wise Center | Meadville, PA  

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The Latest
- After a back-and-forth first half, the Barons completely dismantled Chatham in the second half to secure a huge 77-56 victory
- The Barons earned their first win over the Cougars since 2021-22 and helped their playoff seeding in the process
- Zach Oliver led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds
- Five Barons scored in double figures
- The Barons will travel to Allegheny on Saturday to face the Gators on their Senior Day

Look Around the League


Scouting the Gators
- Allegheny comes into this matchup 9-13, with a 7-6 PAC record
- The Gators have the 10th ranked offense and fourth ranked defense in the conference
- They are 11th in rebounding
- Senior guard Ryan Lang is 12th in the PAC in scoring at 14.5 points per game and ninth in rebounding at 6.9 per game
- Freshman forward Pijus Latauskas is 13th in the PAC in scoring at 14.3 points per game

Matchup History
- The Barons are 2-4 all-time against the Gators
- Allegheny won last season's final matchup 84-71
- In the loss, Sawyer Butler led the Barons with 22 points and eight rebounds
- Earlier that season, the Barons won a 73-72 thriller in Meadville
- Aiden Townsend hit a buzzer-beater to win the game and led the Barons with 24 points and nine rebounds

Zach Attack
-  Zach Oliver and Zachary Pollaro came up big for the Barons in the win over Chatham
- Oliver scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half, where the Barons turned a three-point deficit into a 21-point win
- Oliver also led all players with 11 rebounds
- Pollaro scored 13 points, shooting 5-7 from the field and 3-5 from the three-point line 
- He is shooting 41.8% from three on the season

Controlling Their Destiny
- The Barons find themselves in a three-way tie for second in the PAC South with W&J and Chatham
- If both teams' conference records were to stay even, W&J would own a tiebreaker over the Barons due to their two head-to-head wins this season
- Franciscan currently owns the tiebreaker over Chatham
- If the Barons win all three of their remaining games, they would remain ranked over Chatham, and they would be 2-0 against Saint Vincent and jump them in the standings
- This would secure them, at worst, the #2 seed and a home playoff game

Big Time Butler
- Sawyer Butler has scored 20+ points in 31 games so far in his collegiate career. He has scored 30+ points seven times.
- He became the second Baron to eclipse 40 points in a game with 49 at Juniata, joining Sean Hickey '22, who did it in the 2020-21 season
- He sits 8th with 1,338 points on the all-time scoring ranks that go back to 1947. He trails Dan Rogich '79 with 1,394 points for 7th.
- Butler broke the program record for most free throws made by a Baron. He sits at 402 makes while shooting 84.1% for his career.
- He is fourth all-time in field goals with 403. Matt Trent '20 is third with 427.
- His 22.3 points per game would be the highest ever single-season average by a Baron
- He leads the PAC in scoring
- With 130 made three-pointers, he has moved into third all-time, trailing Keoni Sablan '18 with 133

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