Men's Basketball ends losing streak with two big wins in Florida

St. Louis- The Fontbonne University men's basketball team has snapped their non-conference losing streak by defeating Mount St. Vincent's College 79-73 and Oglethorpe University 64-60 while playing in the Dayton Beach Shootout over winter break. The Griffins improve to 3-7 overall heading into St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play in January.

Mt. St. Vincent falling to 4-6 on the season, Fontbonne men's basketball jumped out to a 6-0 lead within the first 3 minutes of play. That lead would expire when Anthony Woods connects on a jump shot to tie the game at 9 just 4 minutes later. Sophomore Andrew Chism would help extend the Griffins' lead by adding 11 points to give the Griffins a 30-19 lead. Fontbonne led 37-29, shooting 52% from the field and 57% behind the arc heading into the locker room.

The Dolphins came out strong fielding a jumper and from long range to come within 3 points of the Griffins with 18:05 left to play. With 10:29 to go, Shaquille Cunningham would add 3 points from a made field goal and an extra point (foul by Yada Demisse) to give the Dolphins their second lead of the game, 55-54. A missed 3-pointer by Chism, and Cunningham connects again to give the Dolphins their biggest lead 57-54. Fontbonne would go on a 7-0 streak to lead 61-57 with 7:52 left to play. Tied at 61, Mt. St. Vincent saw their chance of winning start to fall as Fontbonne would take the lead and never look back.

D'Andre McPhatter would score the only double-double for the Dolphins. Chism (off the bench) was Fontbonne's leading scorer on the night totaling 26 points (in 24 minutes) and accumulating 5 steals for the Griffins. Freshman Jared Greenlee pulled in 11 defensive rebounds and 15 points to be the only Griffin to have a double-double. Sophomore Greg Gentry totaled 10 points on the day and recorded 4 assists.

Oglethorpe went into the Daytona Shootout with a 7-2 record making the Griffin win their biggest upset yet. Fontbonne came out strong with about an 8-point lead the entire first half, going into the locker room with a 26-16 halftime lead. The Stormy Petrels 7% shooting behind the arc hurt their first half performance, but they pulled things together and slowly starting mounting a comeback after their halftime pep talk. Oglethorpe's Branden Jovagge connected from downtown to pull the Stormy Petrels to within 6 points with 18:05 remaining. The Griffins would pull ahead 42-29, but Oglethorpe wasn't finished. Turnovers and fouls would cause the Griffins problems as the Stormy Petrels pulled within 3 points (46-43) with 7:35 remaining.

Despite Oglethorpe's 50% shooting from the field, 33% shooting from long range, and 100% shooting at the line during the second half, Fontbonne's young squad pulled away with the win.

Overall, Fontbonne's long-range shooting percentage helped them with the win. The Griffins shot 32% from the arc on the night. Freshman Jared Greenlee narrowly missed his second double-double of the Daytona Beach Shootout totaling 13 points and 9 rebounds against the Stormy Petrels. Freshman Richard Dorhauer shot 50% from the arc, scoring 12 points on the night. Fellow freshman Colton Woods took in 12 rebounds to lead the Griffin boards. Sophomore Greg Gentry recorded 7 points, 6 assists, and 6 rebounds to round out the Griffin leaderboards.

Oglethorpe's Jordan Kinney recorded 18 points on the night and teammate Alex Davis contributed with 11.

Jared Greenlee was named to the Daytona Beach Shootout's All-Tournament Team.

The Griffins are getting ready for SLIAC foe Westminster College on Wednesday, January 2nd at 8pm at home.