On November 8th, the Barons lost their season home opener to Penn State Fayette 81-75. There were a lot of ups and downs during the game, but the Barons could not stop #11 Torian Jenkins who turned them with 36 points, seven rebounds, and 3 steals. This was the one man Head Coach Joe Wallace and his team did not want to go off and indeed he did.
Looking at the numbers, the Barons out dueled the Lions by a good amount. The Barons had 44 points in the paint while the Lions only had 36. Franciscan also had 21 second chance points while the Lions only had nine. Those are good numbers there by the Barons but the one thing that stood out was their bench points. Franciscan had 21 bench points while the Lions only had three points. Throughout the game, the Lions basically played only their starters. #4 William Powell and #22 Sean Cunningham were the only players who played on the bench for the Lions. Franciscan on the other hand had many players come off the bench. The one player that stood out tho was freshman guard Sawyer Butler. In his first collegiate game ever, he scored 11 points, coughed up six boards and had two steals. Butler was a difference maker and his presence could be felt on the court.
Freshman guard #1 Sawyer Butler drives past his defender.
What made the Barons lose the game was errors, youth, and inexperience. They could not stop #11 Jenkins and turnovers killed them even more. The Barons committed 15 turnovers while the Lions only committed 11. At the end of the day, basketball games are determined by turnovers and how many a team commits. Usually when a team commits more than their opponent, they end up losing the game. If a team does commit more turnovers than the other team, then they have to be doing something else a lot better than their opponent. But on Wednesday, the Barons could not find that something else.
This past Saturday, the Barons pulled a huge win against Penn State Beaver 64-62 as redshirt senior #12 scored a game winning layup with 3.8 seconds left to play. This game helped the Barons confidence a lot and boosted their morale as well after that tough home opener loss. This Barons team is very diverse and will have a lot of ups and owns throughout the season. But this team is very dangerous and has a lot of weapons. Coach Wallace looks to avoid a disastrous season he had last year and his eye is locked in on making the PAC playoffs. This Barons team can definitely do it and their freshman stars in Sawyer Butler and Karl Yonkeu might be the answers.
#11 Derrick Derrow watches his teammates make a play.
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