Lake notches two career-highs as Griffins fall to Blackburn

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne men's basketball suffered a 20-point loss this afternoon on their home court against St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Blackburn College. It's the second year each head coach squared off against one another with Griffins head coach Lance Thornhill suffering his third straight loss to Blackburn's Steve Kollar. The 90-70 loss is Fontbonne's fifth of the season while Blackburn edges over .500 (5-4). 

Fontbonne took a 7-6 lead after junior Jack Lake connected on a layup, but their lead was brief as Blackburn notched six straight points in a minute and 12 seconds of play. Lake made another layup to put the Griffins down by three but again Blackburn scored six consecutive points to pull away. Lake cut the Beavers' lead to five (20-15) but the visiting team took a 30-15 lead with 7:03 left in the first half.

At halftime the Beavers led 45-29 and led by as many as 22 points five minutes into the second half. The Griffins couldn't overcome their first-half deficit as they only scored four less points than Blackburn in the second half. 

Lake led Fontbonne with career highs in scoring and blocks off the bench. He recorded 18 points on eight of ten in the field with a team-high seven rebounds and four blocks. 

Jake Maestranzi recorded 17 points and nine rebounds for Blackburn while Chris Davis led all with 23 points and Willie Orange recorded the only double double of the game with 16 points and five rebounds. 

The Griffins committed 32 turnovers in the loss including 18 in the first half and shot just 54.2% on 24 attempts at the free throw line. 

Fontbonne hosts Illinois Tech on Monday at 7 p.m. before traveling to Greenville next Saturday.