BIG WEEK — The FUS men’s basketball team won an in-season tournamwnt at Juanita College erlier this week and are preparing to begin conference play. - Contributed

The Franciscan University of Steubenville’s men’s basketball team is off to quite the start to its season.

This past week, the Barons finished the calendar year by winning the Doc Greene Holiday Classic and Juanita College, topping Stevenson 70-66 and host Juanita 85-79 on back-to-back days Monday and Tuesday to win the in-season tournament.

In the win over Stevenson, the Barons held the opponent from Maryland to just 35 percent shooting in earning their first top-100 win of the season.

Zach Oliver led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Sawyer Butler added 20 points and was a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line. Karl Yonkeu chipped in eight points and nine rebounds

In the event finale against Juanita, Sawyer Butler poured in a school-record 49 points, hit a program-record eight 3-pointers, and added five rebounds and three steals.

Butler is third in NCAA Division III nationally in scoring, averaging at 27.2 points per game.

The victories improved the Barons to 8-2 on the season with one more out of conference game remaining, Saturday afternoon against a tough Capital University team. FUS is 86th in the NCAA Division Three National Power Index as it readies to compete for a PAC title with conference play beginning at St. Vincent on Wednesday.