ON THE MOVE — Franciscan’s Sawyer Butler drives between Chatham defenders during Wednesday’s PAC Conference game inside the Finnegan Fieldhouse. - Andrew Grimm

That importance to the Barons was evident in the second half of Wednesday night’s game against Chatham.

Trailing by three points at halftime, the Barons came out of the locker room on fire and with urgency. A 12-0 run in the early minutes of the second half put FUS in control and they didn’t give up control from there, rolling to a 77-56 victory inside the Finnegan Fieldhouse.

The Barons out-scored the visitors 47-23 after halftime. After shooting just 36.4 percent in the opening half, FUS was a dazzling 63.3 percent from the field in the second half and went 6 of 9 from beyond the arc after the break.

“It was a great second half,” Barons head coach Joe Wallace said. “I felt like our defense was dictating things in the first half, but our offense didn’t have a lot of rhythm. Coming in we wanted to be the more physical team on both sides of the floor. We made some adjustments in the second half, but I felt like our depth just wore them down. We were able to go deep and our guys all played their roles well.

UP TO SCORE — Franciscan’s Anthony Covetta takes the ball to the hoop against Chatham on Wednesday. - Andrew Grimm

“Once our guys started making shots, they had no answer.”

The win was a big one for the Barons (17-5, 9-4 PAC) as they have two of their final three regular season games on the road and are in the thick of a tight battle in the President’s Athletic Conference South Division.

Wednesday’s victory put the Barons in second place in the South Division, in a three-way tie with Chatham and Washington and Jefferson, all at 9-4 in conference play. St. Vincent leads the division just one game up at 10-3.

Wednesday’s win also avenged one of the Barons losses as they dropped the first meeting at Chatham in a close 76-74 game back on Jan. 21.

“They’re all big games now,” Wallace said. “We have to continue the mindset of being the more physical team, it is basically tournament time for us now. We’ve got to keep it rolling.”

LOCAL — The Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Benji Rook comes up the floor with the ball during Wedneday’s game. Rook, a freshman on the Barons team, is Catholic Central’s all-time leading scorer. - Andrew Grimm

Sawyer Butler, the conference’s top scorer who at one point this season led all of Division III, was held to just two points in the first half. He heated up in the second half as did the Barons, finishing in double figures with 10 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

He was one of five Barons in double digits as Zach Oliver came off the bench to lead the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double, Zachary Pollaro netted 13, also off the bench, and Anthony Covetta and Karl Yonkeu each netted 10, Yonkeu adding six boards.

Catholic Central grad Benji Rook got on the floor late in the game, recording an assist.

The Barons got 35 points off the bench and held the a wide advantage in points in the paint (38-24) and points off turnovers (23-5) while out-rebounding Chatham 41-34.

The Barons defense held the visitors to just 25.9 percent shooting after halftime.

BIG GAMES TO GO

The Barons have a trip to Allegheny, who is second in the PAC North Division, on Saturday, before hosting south division leading Saint Vincent on Wednesday for senior day in its final home game. The Barons close with a trip across the river to Bethany on Feb. 21.

MELNYK REACHES MILESTONES

IN WOMEN’S LOSS

The Franciscan women dropped a 76-40 decision to Chatham in the early game in the Finnegan Fieldhouse Wednesday evening, but local product Jazzy Melnyk reached a couple of milestones in the loss.

With nine points and 14 rebounds for the Barons, both team-highs, the Madonna graduate became just the third 1,000-point scorer in the program’s history and became the program’s all-time leading rebounder.

Melnyk ranks 16th nationally in NCAA Division III averaging 11.8 rebounds per game and is 24th in the nation with 12 double-doubles on the season.

The Barons women fell to 3-19 on the season. They also travel to Allegheny on Saturday.