St. Louis, Mo 1/31/2024- The Westminster College men's basketball team was in St. Louis, Missouri on Wednesday night to take on the Fontbonne University Griffins. The Blue Jays would hang around but would never be able to hold the lead as the Griffins led the game from start to finish, winning the game 93-84. Fontbonne improved to 13-7 on the season and 8-5 in the SLIAC. Westminster falls to 4-16 overall and is 4-9 in conference play.
Fontbonne got out to an early 7-2 lead. Westminster would answer and get it back to a one-point game at 13-12. Both teams would trade baskets back and forth until Fontbonne strung together a couple of stops and went up 28-22. It would go that way for much of the first half. The Griffins would get a 5- or 6-point lead only for the Blue Jays to cut it back to 1 point. As both teams engaged in a tug of war. Fontbonne would take a 10-point lead right before halftime. Freshman Jack Fessenden would drill a three for the Blue Jays to make it 50-43 at the half, giving Westminster some momentum to build on heading into the second half.
The Blue Jay would scratch and claw their way back into the game. Freshman Gavin Hendrix gave the Blue Jays a lot of energy off the bench, and he would get the hoop and the harm. He would make the free throw to make it a 4-point game, 64-60 with 12 minutes left to play. Lee Verslues would score a layup to make a 2-point game 64-62, as the Jays were rolling. The Griffins would score five unanswered points and just like that were back up 69-62. Fontbonne would once again go up 11 points at 81-70 with 5 minutes left. Westminster would once again have to make a comeback attempt. Walker Gohring would cut it 4 points after hitting a jump shot to make it 85-81 with 2 minutes to go. Fontbonne would make their free throws down the stretch and closed the game out, winning 93-84.
Senior Brennan Jeffries continues to play at a high level, scoring 20 points and going 11-11 from the free throw line. It was his fifth 20-point game of the season. Jack Fessenden had 16 points and 3 assists. He would go 6-6 from the free throw line. Fellow freshman Walker Gohring had 14 points and 12 rebounds, recording his second straight game with a double-double. Brysan Jeffries had 10 points and 9 rebounds. Gavin Hendrix had 9 points off the bench and went 4-5 from the field.
The Blue Jays will be back in action on Saturday, February 3rd when they take on Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. The game is set to begin at 2:00 PM CST and 3:00 PM EST local time in Louisville.
