Heartbreaking Loss for Men's Basketball

St. Louis- Fontbonne University men's basketball jumped out to an early 19-5 lead against the Westminster College Blue Jays. The Griffins, who led by as many as 14 points in the first half, saw their lead slip away within the final 41 seconds of the game.

After their 14-point streak out of the gates, Fontbonne allowed Westminster to score eight straight, cutting their lead to six. A couple of exchanged baskets and the Griffins found themselves up by 10 again, only to have the Blue Jays trailing by five at halftime (39-34).

The Griffins charged out of the locker room, scoring their first three attempts for eight unanswered points. Trailing 34-47, Westminster answered back, scoring eight straight, now behind by five. Buckets continued to exchange through the middle of the second half until Fontbonne saw their lead cut to two with 7:32 remaining. Up by seven with 4:12 to go, Brandon Moore made two three-point buckets in a row and Joe James added two free throws to narrow the score (70-71). Two Griffin free throws and another trey by Moore allowed Westminster to tie the game at 73 with 1:22 left to play. The final seven points of the game would all be from the free throw point line. Fontbonne could have tied the game or regained the lead twice, but choked at the line. Bryan DeGeare's last second three-point attempt was disappointing as fans thought the Griffin had been fouled, but no call was made. Westminster claimed the 78-75 victory.

James scored the game-high 27 points on 5 of 7 from the arc. Moore totaled 24 on the evening connecting on 5 of 9 trey attempts. Also in double digits for the Blue Jays was Verdis Lee Jr. with 13 points.

Richard Dorhauer scored 22 points for Fontbonne, missing eight three-point attempts. Blake Welch and Darius Rucker each scored 14 points. Rucker made seven of nine field goal attempts. DeGeare finished with 12 points, scoring three of five three-point attempts. Jared Greenlee raked in the game-high 11 rebounds and Orkan Bakis rounded out the Griffins' double digit scoring with 10 points.

Fontbonne shot 62.5% in the first half and finished ahead of Westminster at 57.1%. The Blue Jays averaged 46.4% from the field. The Griffins totaled 20 more rebounds than the Blue Jays, but committed 10 second-half turnovers, diminishing an attempt at a comeback.

Fontbonne travels to Blackburn this Wednesday for a 6pm SLIAC contest.