Men's Basketball: Balanced offense and sharp shooting lifts Bison past Barons

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Bethany College men's basketball snapped a four game losing streak after defeating Franciscan University, 90-82, Wednesday evening.

GAME FLOW

• It was a back-and-forth affair between the teams for majority of the first half. Bethany began the scoring after Ben Guffey hit his first of six three's. Franciscan would go on a 12-2 run to take a seven point lead. The Bison battled back to knot the game at 13-13 and it would be a battled from there for the lead. With three minutes left in the first half, Franciscan led 38-30. The Bison would close out the half on a 10-2 run to knot the game at 40-40.
• The beginning of the second half, Franciscan held momentum, but Bethany would continue to fight to keep the game close. After being deadlocked at 56-56, the Bison would go on a 13-2 run to take a double-digit lead. With five minutes remaining in the game, Bethany led by as many as 12. The Barons would chip away at the Bison lead, cutting the deficit to five with 3:20 to go. Back-to-back buckets by Troy Hixson would swell the Bison lead back to double-digits.
• Franciscan would cut the Bison lead to four with just over a minute left in the game. Hixson was able to score after a Barons' turnover and Colin Meany would capitalize at the charity stripe to give the Bison a six point lead with 11 seconds to go. A pair of Cole Dailey free-throws would seal the Bison victory.  

IN THE BOX SCORE

• Troy Hixson led the Bison with 24 points off the bench. He shot 6-for-10 from behind the arc and 9-17 from the field.
• Ben Guffey added 18 points with six made threes. He had three assists.
• Cole Dailey added 14 points and 14 rebounds.
• Tony Fox had 12 points and five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
• Will Brooks had a team-high eight assists.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Bethany shot 43.4% from the field while Franciscan shot 39.2%. The Bison held the advantage from behind the arc making 17 three's while the Barons only made six.
• Franciscan held the advantage on the boards, out rebounding the Bison, 51-44.

NOTEABLES

• The last time the Bison won at least five games was the 2018-19 season.

RECORDS

Bethany College – 5-10 (4-6 PAC)

Franciscan University – 6-8 (3-7 PAC)

UP NEXT

Bethany will return to the court on Jan. 13 when they host Westminster College beginning at 3:30 pm.