The Bluffton University men’s basketball team fell 58-42 to Franklin College on Saturday, Dec 1, 2012. The Beavers slipped to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the HCAC, while Franklin improved to 3-2 on the season and 1-0 in the HCAC.

The 42 points for Bluffton were the fewest the Beavers have scored since a season-opening 62-42 loss to Lebanon Valley in 2004-05.

The Bluffton defense came out ready to play, helping the Beavers to a five-point lead at the 14:13 mark following a Josh Johnson (Ottawa/Ottawa-Glandorf) jumper that made the score 8-3.

The Beavers kept their lead for five more minutes until Franklin’s Trae Washington drained a three-pointer, tying the score at 12 apiece.

During the next six minutes the game was tied two more time before the Grizzlies went up by three. With 29 seconds left in the opening period, junior Will Pope (Somerville/Preble Shawnee) hit from in close to end the half with the Beavers down by just one, 24-23.

The home team scored eight straight to open the second stanza and the Grizzlies never looked back, outscoring Bluffton 34-19 en route to a 58-42 win over the Beavers.

The Beavers were led by Johnson who had 12 points. Junior post Dustin Kinn (Alvada/New Riegel) collected a career-high 11 rebounds. Senior Tyler Neal (Bluffton) and Kinn added seven and six points, respectively.

Bluffton struggled from behind the arc, making just 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) on its three-point tries.

The Beavers turned it over a whopping 12 more times (25-13), but pulled down nine more rebounds (34-25). Franklin hit 43.8 percent (21-of-48) from the field, compared to 33.3 percent (13-of-39) for Bluffton.

The Beavers return to action with a non-conference clash against Kalamazoo College on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. The contest is slated for 7 p.m in the Sommer Center.

Find game stats here.