Griffins upset Spalding; defeat Golden Eagles for first time in program history

St. Louis, Mo. - The Fontbonne University men's basketball team secured a big win over conference leader Spalding University this afternoon. The win edges the Griffins into a better position for the postseason tournament and is the first time the Griffins have defeated the Golden Eagles in Fontbonne men's basketball history as Spalding won the last 10 meetings.

Fontbonne opened up with the lead and only allowed Spalding to lead by two for 19 seconds. The Griffins led for a little over 36 minutes and held their largest lead of 11 with 14:09 to go in the second half. Spalding's power forward Renaldo Moore tried to enter the game, but a sickness held the forward to just three minutes of play time.

At halftime, Fontbonne led 31-24. After gaining their 11-point lead, Spalding chipped away to cut the lead to just two points with 1:20 left in the game, but that would be the last bucket for the Golden Eagles. Fontbonne held on for the 62-56 win.

Spalding blanked on 12 attempts behind the three-point arc and shot just 53.8% from the free throw line. Today's game was the fourth in eight days for the Golden Eagles.

Fontbonne had trouble from long range as well, sinking just three shots on 12 attempts as well. Jared Greenlee scored the game-high 20 points while also grabbing seven rebounds. The forward was 10-for-13 from the charity stripe and added one block. Other Griffins scoring in double digits included Blake Welch and Greg Gentry who each scored 10 points. Gentry connected on eight of nine free throws. Ben Kissing scored each of his four bucket tries, ending with nine points and six rebounds.

At halftime the Griffins inducted Brian Fogerty '09 into the Fontbonne Athletic Hall of Fame. His accolades can be found here.

The Griffins travel to Greenville College this Wednesday, February 4th for an 8pm tipoff.