February 6, 2002

Bluffton College attempted a season-high 29 3-pointers and connected on nine of them, but it wasn't enough to overcome the red-hot shooting of Franklin College, who took a 97-93 victory over the Beavers in Founders Hall Wednesday night.

Franklin shot an impressive 53.3% from the floor in the first half and was even better in the second half, hitting an amazing 66.7% of their attempts. The Grizzlies were even hotter from 3-point range, nailing 10-of-15 shots from downtown in the game for a 66.7% clip from trey land.

BC junior Mike Leimeister, who tied a career-high with 31 points, led a frenzied second half comeback as the Beavers scored 57 points and shot 61.8% from the floor themselves. Bluffton trailed by 20 points with 14:33 left in the game, but knocked that deficit down to just four points with 1:54 left to play.

However, Franklin's Nick Scott drilled a 3-pointer with 1:03 left to play to push the lead back up to seven points and Bluffton was unable to make up the difference.

BC senior Rod Overmyer scored 24 points and added seven rebounds and three steals, while sophomore Michael Kingsley scored a career-high 22 points and dished out five assists.

Bluffton (8-14, 1-11 HCAC) committed just 14 turnovers in the game and tied a season-high with 14 steals, five of which came from junior Marcus Bixler for his new career high.

Franklin (14-8, 5-6 HCAC) was led by Jake Sappenfield with 26 points.

BC will travel to Transylvania University on Saturday at 3:00 (live webcast available on the BC men's basketball website).