Tigers hand Griffins first conference loss

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne University men's basketball saw their 2-0 conference record snapped today as Iowa Wesleyan College (IWC) downed the Griffins 71-65. Fontbonne falls to 2-6 on the year in a tough battle for both teams as IWC led for 19:18 and Fontbonne led for 17:16.

First half basketball was back and forth as each team's largest lead was only four points. Junior forward Jared Greenlee totaled six defensive rebounds and 10 points in the first half as he went 4-5 in the field and 2-2 at the charity stripe. Fellow junior Blake Welch scored eight points before halftime on three-of-four shooting and 2-2 at the line.

Up 31-30 at halftime, the Griffins secured a seven-point lead two minutes into the second half. Fontbonne led until IWC took a 47-46 lead on two free throws with 11 minutes left to play. The Griffins trailed by four with 1:09 remaining. An IWC missed three pointer resulted in two more points as Welch committed his fourth foul on the rebound. Another bucket would put IWC up by eight points, the largest lead of the game with 18 seconds to play. Welch nailed down a three-pointer as he was fouled and secured the free throw to cut IWC's lead to 68-64 with 11 seconds left. Welch would commit his fifth foul of the night while IWC secured the 71-65 win nine seconds later.

Greenlee finished with his first double-double of the year with 19 points and 12 rebounds (all defensive) along with one block, a steal and an assist. Welch ended with 16 points, a rebound and one assist. Junior Richard Dorhauer assisted six times on the night while sophomore Ben Kissing tallied nine points down low.

The men's basketball team will travel to California for the second time this season, this time to participate in Cal Lutheran's Thrivent Financial Tournament. Fontbonne is set to take on the host at 6pm EST, 8pm CST on December 29th. The Griffins will play a team to-be-determined the following day. Stay up to date with live stats and game times on our schedule page.

**In last year's final meeting between these two teams, Greenlee posted 21 points and 10 rebounds against the Tigers.