#3 Franciscan 66, #2 Allegheny  62

Franciscan Starters 
Sawyer Butler, Karl Yonkeu, Zachary Pollaro, Malachi Rose-Burton, and Zach Oliver

How It Happened 
    Franciscan has been to the PAC Quarterfinals a few times, but tonight is the first time they have advanced to the Semifinals. With their 66-62 victory over the Allegheny Gators, the Barons survived the defensive battle and move on to face the W&J Presidents on the road. 
    It was just 10 days ago the Barons traveled to Meadville, Pa to face the Gators and walked away with a decisive 81-66 win. With that game fresh in their minds, the Barons walked onto the floor with complete confidence in their ability to win despite being the lower seed and on the road. They took a quick five point lead and blanked the first few Gator possessions. However, the defensive grind for the Barons began shortly after. The Gators went on a 21-5 run through the next two media timeouts, and the Barons were looking like they were in trouble. Thankfully, a defensive slug-fest is exactly the way the Barons like to play. They clawed their way back into the game and took the lead before half. 
    The second half continued to be a battle at the perimeter. The Gators are a little light on post presence, but the guys they do have did a stellar job at defending the rim. The game diverged into who could hit the most contested jump shots from midrange and three.
    The Barons have a slew of perimeter players, lead by Butler, who can make those plays, while the Gators relied on Lang and Sitter. There's a lot of things you can break down over the course of the half, but the unique or outlying thing the Barons did that slowly separated them from the Gators...Offensive rebounding. Both defenses made life tough for the other team forcing long, low quality shots, but the Barons dominated on the offensive glass getting two, three, and sometimes four opportunities on single possession. A great coach once said, "shooting percentage doesn't mean anything, scoring percentage wins games". You can shoot the ball terribly, but if you keep getting the rebound and score every time, your offense is going to score points. With both teams shooting 32% that is precisely what happened. The Barons did it a little better and walked away with their first PAC Quarterfinal victory. 
 
Inside the Numbers 
- Freshman Pollaro made the first start of his career
- Oliver grabbing his seventh double-double of the season
- Butler had a game-high 24 pts

Up Next 
Franciscan will now head to #1 Washington and Jefferson on Thursday for the PAC Semifinal. The Barons are 5-14 all-time against the Presidents, including a pair of close losses this season. In December, the Barons fell by four points in overtime at home, and then earlier this month, the Barons fell by four in Washington. This will be the second time that they meet in the PAC Tournament. Last season, the Presidents beat the Barons in the PAC Quarterfinal. 

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