1/3/2024 Fulton, Mo- The Westminster College men's basketball team returned to action after a two-and-a-half week break for the holidays. They hosted the Fontbonne University Griffins in their first game back and kicked off the main portion of the SLIAC schedule. The Blue Jays had a hot hand in the first half, taking a 41-39 lead at halftime. The Griffins came back and showed why they are one of the top teams in the conference, winning the game 94-81. Fontbonne improves to 9-3 on the season and 4-1 in the SLIAC. The Blue Jays fell to 1-11 on the season and 1-4 in the SLIAC.
Fontbonne would dominate the early portion of the game as the Blue Jays showed some rust. The Griffins would get a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes of the game. Westminster started to crawl back going on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to four points at 14-10. A few minutes later, the Blue Jays would hit three straight three-pointers to tie the game 21-21 with 11:10 left in the half. Hometown kid Walker Gohring hit the go-ahead three to put the Blue Jays on top for the time in the game at 24-21 and 10:51 to go before halftime. Gohring would hit another three to extend the Blue Jays lead to 27-23. Fellow freshman Jack Fessenden hit another three for the Blue Jays as they took a five-point lead, 30-25.
Westminster would hold that lead for the remainder of the half. The Griffins would score a layup with 26 seconds left in the half and then forced a Blue Jay turnover that led to a foul. Fontbonne would make one free throw and cut their deficit to just two points. Gohring would heave a shot at the buzzer that rattled around the rim and went in the basket, however, the shot was waved off as he did not get the shot off in time. The Blue Jays headed to the locker room with a 41-39 lead.
Fontbonne got the ball to start the second half. Aaron Poage would get a steal that led to a breakaway dunk for the young freshman. The Griffins would begin to slowly come back, chipping away at the Westminster lead. Fontbonne would tie the game twice before regaining the lead for the first time since the 11-minute mark in the first half. They would hit a three with 12:38 remaining to take a 57-54 lead.
The two teams would continue to trade baskets, then Fontbonne would break through after going on a 6-0 run to take a 69-61 lead with 8 minutes remaining. The Griffins would go on to win the game 94-81.
Walker Gohring led the Blue Jays, scoring 17 points off the bench. He grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 6 assists. Brennan Jeffries had 13 points, going 7-8 from the free-throw line. Aaron Poage had 12 points and went 5-6 from the free-throw line.
The Blue Jays had the hot shooting hand early but cooled off as the game went on, shooting 32% from the field while the Griffins shot 43% from the field. Fontbonne out-rebounded the Blue Jays 56-46 and forced the Blue Jays to turn the ball over 18 times. They led to 26 points off turnovers.
Westminster will look to bounce back on Saturday, January 6th when they take on Spalding University at 3:00 pm in the Historic Gym.
