Franciscan 78, Grove City 83
Franciscan Starters
Josh Zimmerman, Travis Lien, Colton Hage, Nicholas Allienello, Benjamin Klement
Grove City Starters Bock, Yarber, Cano, Bryan, WeirHow It Happened The Barons switched back to PAC play as they traveled to Grove City to take on the Wolverines on Wednesday night. These two teams split a pair of games last season with the home team winning each matchup. Travis Lien led the Barons with 30 points tonight, but unfortunately the home team trend would continue tonight as the Barons fell by a score of 83-78 to the Wolverines.
Zimmerman got the Barons on the board to start the game with a tough and one to jump out to a 3-0 lead. The game would mostly be back and forth with the Barons in control for the nine minutes. Franciscan would hold a 16-15 lead with Travis Lien leading them in the early going with six points. The Wolverines would then get hot from beyond the arc, as they went on a 17-2 run over the next four minutes with five made three point baskets. Allienello would snap the run with a made layup to settle the Barons. Lien would continue to lead the way, as he ended the opening half with 14 points in 11 minutes of action. Grove City made seven three pointers in the opening half to hold a 38-28 lead.
Colton Hage would spark the Baron offense in the second half to help the Barons climb back into the lead. He would score 10 points in a Franciscan 22-9 run to give Franciscan a lead of 50-49 just eight minutes into the second half. Action would then be mostly back and forth for the next four minutes, as the score would be 61-61 with eight minutes left to play. The Wolverines would then spark a 12-2 run to return the lead to 10 points at 73-63 with 3:41 to play. Franciscan would not quit, as they would be able to cut it to a five point game with one minute to play. After a couple failed Grove City free throws, Lien would connect on a pair to set the score at 78-75. Grove City would be able to connect on a couple of free throws and one clutch putback to pull away from the Barons to win by five points.
Inside the Numbers
-Travis Lien led the Barons with a career-high 30 points.
-That was the 14th 30+ point performance by a Baron in the NCAA Division III era.
-Colton Hage matched his career-high with 20 points.
-Allienello had a team best nine rebounds.
-Grove City won the rebounding battle 55-36.
Up Next
The Barons will remain on the road to take on Geneva on Saturday afternoon in Beaver Falls. The Barons are looking to snap a four-game skid against the Golden Tornadoes, as they have not beat them since 2018. They are also looking for their first at Geneva since the 2014-15 season. That being said they played them tough twice last season with each being single-digit losses. Geneva is off to a good start this season, as they have the second best offense in the conference at 83.6 ppg.
Original source can be found here.
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