Box Score
Steubenville, OH - The Mount Aloysius men's basketball team lost in their conference opener to host Franciscan by a final score of 78-76 on Wednesday evening. The Mounties had a layup attempt to tie the game miss at the buzzer as the Barons narrowly escaped with the victory.

The game was an evenly-matched contest throughout. Franciscan jumped out to a lead of 11-2 in the opening minutes before the Mounties climbed back into it. Arin Wade hit a layup with 9:06 remaining in the opening half to cut the deficit to 13-11. After Franciscan jumped back out to a 20-13 advantage, the Mounties went on a 10-1 run to take a 23-21 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the half. Wade made a layup with four seconds to play to hand Mount Aloysius a four-point lead at 31-27 heading into the break.

The sides traded the lead in the second half and Franciscan took the largest lead of the half at 63-56 with 7:38 remaining. The Mounties trimmed the advantage to a single point on a number of occasions down the stretch, with Ja'wan Hargraves hitting a free throw with 53 seconds left to make it a 76-75 ballgame in favor of the Barons. After a missed Franciscan shot and a Mountie turnover, the Barons hit two free throws to make it a 78-75 game.

With two seconds to play, Tre Brown was fouled. He made the first free throw and missed the second intentionally with Joe Dziabo grabbing the rebound. Dziabo's layup attempt at the buzzer was off the mark.

Dillon Bender led the Mounties with 17 points, three assists and three steals. Drew Knowles contributed 15 points and six rebounds off the bench, and Chad Eisenhuth also finished in double figures off the bench with 10 points. Brown dished five assists and hauled in seven boards from the point guard position.

The Mounties return to action Saturday with another AMCC road matchup at Hilbert College. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.