Griffins win Battle of Big Bend after 17-point deficit

St. Louis, Mo. – After playing each other in the SLIAC semifinals last season and Fontbonne overpowering Webster 67-61, the Griffins found themselves off to a rough start, trailing 35-18 with 6:53 left to play in the first half. Not to be taken lightly, Fontbonne forced Webster to commit five turnovers and scored 15 straight points to trail 35-33. A bucket each and a three-pointer by Garrett McDowell put the Griffins up 38-37. Fontbonne went into the locker room ahead 40-39 despite a 15-23 rebounding disadvantage. Griffins Richard Dorhauer and Ben Kissing led everyone at halftime with 11 points.

Webster led 49-48 with 13:56 to play but the Griffins scored seven points to lead 55-49. Webster pulled within two with 5:35 to go but wouldn't get any closer.

Dorhauer was held scoreless in the second half until he hit his fourth trey of the night with 1:40 to go, giving Fontbonne a 63-57 lead. A costly Griffin mistake with just under a minute to go gave Webster possession of the ball and a chance to come back. The Gorloks secured two free-throws with 40 seconds left, cutting Fontbonne's lead to four. Forcing Webster to foul, Fontbonne was able to extend their lead two more points but a Gorlok bucket with 14 seconds to play cut the lead to four once more. Two timeouts and three Griffin free-throws finalized the game. Fontbonne secured their third conference win and second in a row with the 68-61 victory.

Kissing had a tough fight under the basket getting hacked, but was able to total the game-high 17 points with five rebounds. Bryce Zimmerman reached double-digits for the first time since November, scoring 11 points as the freshman went connected on five-of-eight field goals with seven points in the second half. Jared Greenlee posted five second-half rebounds and totaled eight on the nightcap while the senior added seven points as well.

Fontbonne travels to Greenville Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest against the Panthers.