STEUBENVILLE, Oh. - The Franciscan Barons outscored La Roche by 10 points in the second half to hand the Redhawks their first conference regular season loss since 2017. Baron's leading scorer, Sean Hickey, hit the go-ahead 3-PT with 10 seconds on the clock to give Franciscan their first win over La Roche since 2015. La Roche, now 8-1 in conference play, are now tied with Pitt Greensburg, also 8-1 in conference play, at the top of the AMCC standings. The Redhawks defeated the Bobcats earlier this season at the Kerr, therefore would hold the tie-breaker if the playoffs started today. Today's game marks the halfway point of La Roche's conference schedule.
Junior Tyler Frederick scored a team-high 17 points and reeled in 9 rebounds, one rebound short of recording his 7th straight double-double. Frederick went coast-to-coast to put the Redhawks up by two with 22.5 seconds remaining in today's contest.
After shooting 16 of 31 (52%) from the field in the first, La Roche knocked down just 10 of 29 (35%) shots in the second while allowing Franciscan to shoot 16 of 27 (59%) from the floor in the second half.
Final: La Roche: 71, Franciscan: 72
Records: La Roche (8-6, AMCC: 8-1), Franciscan (5-8, AMCC: 4-4)
How it Happened
The offense's of both teams started cold tonight, shooting a combined 3 of 14 from the floor through the first five minutes. Then, with 13:52 on the clock, Tyler Frederick rose up and dunked over a defender while drawing the foul and completed the three-point play to put La Roche up 13-6. The play proved to be an offensive spark for the Redhawks, who would hit four of their next six field goals to go ahead 21-11.
La Roche managed to extend their lead to 14 points with just 2:35 left in the first. Up 40-26, the Barons went on an 8-0 run over the next minute and 20 seconds to cut the deficit to just six points. Darius Lawrence answered Franciscan's run by knocking down three free throws to put LRU ahead 43-34 heading into halftime. A season-high eight Redhawks scored in the first half of Wednesday's contest.
The Barons opened up the second half with two straight buckets before Austin Hannes silenced the run by knocking down his first triple of the game. Franciscan quickly surged back to make it a two-point game five minutes into the second after Travis Lien capped off a 10-4 run for the Barons with a mid-range jumper. Franciscan tied it up 56-56 after their leading scorer, Sean Hickey, scored on an easy layup.
The teams exchanged short runs for the remainder of the contest. After a Tyler Frederick layup, La Roche led 71-69 with only 22.5 seconds remaining. Then, Franciscan's Hickey drained the go-ahead triple with 10 seconds on the clock to put the Barons up 72-71. Instead of calling a timeout, La Roche tried to catch Franciscan off guard and go for the win, ultimatley, coming up short.
Inside the Box Score
Senior guard Darius Lawrence finished with 13 points while shooting 7 of 8 from the free throw line. Lawrence has knocked down 20 of his last 23 free throw attempts.
Senior forward Luke McDonough tied his season-high with 11 points and knocked down a career-high two 3-PT.
The Redhawks scored just one field goal in the final five minutes of the contest.
La Roche was just 5 of 20 (25%) from three-point range. The Redhawks have shot 9 of 36 (25%) from deep their last two games.
LRU out-rebounded Franciscan 35-36.
Five Franciscan players finished in double-digit figures.
In his fourth game back, Franciscan Sophomore forward Travis Lien put up a game-high 18 points while shooting 7 of 13 from the field.
The Barons shot a season-high 52% from the field.
NEXT UP: Men's basketball hosts Hilbert College (10-4, AMCC: 6-3) at home this Saturday, January 18th. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. Proceeding the conclusion of the contest, the La Roche Department of Athletics will hold an induction ceremony in the center of Coach Scott Lang Court for the Hall of Fame Class of 2020. All fans are encouraged to stick around for the induction.