#4 Franciscan 56, #5 New Jersey City University 66

Franciscan Starters 
Tommy Kristian, Karl Yonkeu, Zachary Pollaro, Malachi Rose-Burton, and Volodymyr Trotsko

How It Happened 
    After a PAC semifinal exit, the Barons were invited to the ECAC tournament. They were seeded as a #4 seed and traveled to New Jersey City to face the #5 seed and host NJCU. 
    What has been a strength for the Barons all season long has left them wanting in the waning games of the year. Their 3pt shooting fell flat the last two games leading to two post season losses. As a team they shot 6-35 from behind the 3pt line in tonight's contest. They defended the 3pt line equally as their opponents, but after missing their long range shots early, NJCU had the ability to pound the ball down low with their true center Crawford scoring 26 pts. 
    It's two unfortunate and uncharacteristic losses for the Barons to finish their historic 2025-26' run. Thankfully, their prolific scorers are all juniors or younger. Its a group poised to make a huge surge in the post season next year, and all Baron faithful alike await to see how these guys attack the offseason and regroup for 2026-27.
    
Inside the Numbers 
- Sawyer Butler's 10 points brings his season total to 601. The most in a season for Franciscan and only the 2nd PAC player to eclipse the 600 point mark
- For the second game in a row Richards led the Barons in scoring with 13
- Freshmen Pollaro had 12 points and added a game-high 4 steals.

Up Next 
This concludes the Baron Basketball 2025-26 season. Stay tuned for any Baron Basketball or Franciscan Athletics news.

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