Franciscan 77, Washington & Jefferson 81

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

How It Happened 
    Offensively, the Barons had a solid performance, but an early deficit was too much to overcome in the second half.
    They shot over 42% in the first half, but fell into a hole early allowing the Presidents a staggering 51% from the field. For such an important game there was a lack of urgency, and the Barons just looked slower than their opponents. I imagine during halftime the locker room was an eventful 15 minutes, and a couple of rousing timeouts in the second half got the Barons moving and looking like their true-selves. In the second half they shot over 50% from 3pt and came storming back. An NBA length, 24-minute half may have been enough for the Barons to complete their comeback, but there was no clock malfunction luck last night.
    The Presidents sweeping us in regular season play puts the Barons in a tough spot for hopes of hosting a playoff game. Chatham sits in first with a two game lead while W&J and St. Vincent are in second with a one game lead over the Barons. We have both Chatham and St. Vincent left on our schedule. Picking up both of those wins and hoping Westminster and St. Vincent get wins over W&J is our only hope of climbing up out of fourth and into second place before the postseason.



Inside the Numbers 
- Butler's 26 is his 12th 20+ point performance this season
- Nine Barons posted points 
- 36 team rebounds are one of the lowest totals for the Barons this season
- Zach Oliver had a season-high 5 assists

Up Next 
Franciscan returns home to take on Geneva this Saturday. These two teams split a pair of meetings last season with the road team winning each game. Last season in Steubenville, It was a low-scoring affair, as the Golden Tornadoes won 57-48. At Geneva, Franciscan won 75-66 behind a 21 point effort from Sawyer Butler. Geneva sits in playoff position in the PAC North with an up-and-down season so far and enter this game on a three-game losing streak.

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