STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – All five starters for the Franciscan men's basketball team scored in double digits as the Barons took down Mt. Aloysius in a thrilling 78-76 win in the final seconds in the conference opener for both teams.
The win was the first this season and handed head coach George Vargo his first win at the collegiate level.
"It was a team victory tonight," remarked coach Vargo. "It was an emotional roller coaster for me, to get that first win and get it at home got that monkey off my back. Tonight everybody played together as a team."
With the Barons clinging to a one-point lead with less than five seconds left in regulation, sophomore Joseph Rall popped the ball out of the hands of Dillon Bender to give FUS one last possession. The guard was promptly fouled and sunk both free throws to push the Baron lead to 78-75. After a good free throw on the other end, the Mounties missed their second and Joe Dziabo pulled down the offensive rebound but was unable to get the lay up to go in and Franciscan came away with the victory.
The thrilling victory was set up by nine different lead changes in the game and three ties. The Barons held their largest lead of the game with 13:04 in the first half with a 11-2 advantage behind sophomore Keoni Sablan's three-pointer. The Mounties did not back down and slowly chipped away through the opening period and eventually took a 23-21 lead, their first since the opening minutes of the first.
Sophomore Jacob Divens hit a three-pointer with 1:40 to play to give FUS its last lead of the half before the Mounties hit a pair of threes in the final minute to take a 31-27 lead into the locker room.
Sablan opened the second half with a three as the two teams continued the back and forth affair. Sophomore John Paul Dombrowski took a feed from senior Christian Duke and drove through a pair of defenders a hit a jumper to give FUS a six-point lead, the largest of the second half for the Barons, with 6:56 to play. The Mounties continued to chip away at the Barons as they had all game but could not over take FUS.
The balanced offensive attack for FUS was led by Duke who had 19 points to lead all players while Dombrowski posted his first double-double of the year with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Sablan chipped in 14 points for the Barons while Rall added 13, including going 5-for-7 from the free throw line. Divens rounded out the double-digit scores with 12 points while adding seven assists.
When asked about the adjustments at half time, coach Vargo pointed straight to the turnovers. The Barons finished the first half with 10 but cut it back to seven in the second. "Coach Hagg really controlled his emotions in the locker room and really emphasized the turnovers. I think our guys played great defense. Even though they shot 30 free throws, our guys played physical and played in the paint and didn't let them just drive in the paint and score."
"Our physical tenacity tonight, our rebounding tonight, and us playing together as a team gave us that great victory."
The Barons travel to Pitt-Bradford on Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. tip off.