Griffins stiffled by Illinois Tech

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne University men's basketball led 8-7 before the Scarlet Hawks took the lead and eventually the game. Fontbonne falls to 1-6 on the season while Illinois Institute of Technology crawls over .500 to 4-3.

The Griffins missed three shots in the opening minute before freshman Tyler Schwartz finally connected on his first trey of the night to give Fontbonne a 3-2 lead. Senior Trey Watkins fed junior Jack Lake a nice pass on the block for a layup and a Griffin 8-5 lead. Illinois Tech would soon squander that lead, scoring six straight points to lead 11-8. Fontbonne trailed 21-13 halfway through the first frame but the Griffins fought back to trail by five with five minutes left but were down 43-32 at halftime.

Illinois Tech slowly built a larger lead as the game wore on. With 6:48 left in the game, Fontbonne players on the court thought they should have earned possession after the ball went off of a Scarlet Hawk foot. The referees disagreed, which the host squad didn't take lightly and received two technical fouls for their remarks. Malik Howze netted three of his four attempts at the line, giving IIT a 78-59 lead, which the Griffins couldn't come back from.

Anthony Mosley Jr. exploded in the second half for Illinois Tech, pushing the visiting squad to a 25-point lead with four minutes left in the game. The sophomore guard finished the game with 23 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and three steals. He went eight-for-nine in the field, connecting on all three of his attempts behind the arc. Fourteen of those points were in the second half as were all five of his shot attempts and seven assists. The big man down low Samuel Rarick recorded 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Schwartz finished with 15 points and four rebounds after scoring a career-high four treys on eight attempts and adding three more at the free throw line. James Wiggins added 13 points for the Griffins while senior Jeff Smith recorded 11 points and six rebounds.

On the night, the Griffins were edged by five rebounds and committed just one more turnover than their opponent. Fontbonne shot 42.4% in the field while IIT's accuracy was 55.9%. From long range the Griffins held an advantage, going 7-91 (36.8%) while IIT made five of 17 attempts (29.4%).

Fontbonne is on the road for the remainder of the year, playing five games before hosting Principia College at home on Saturday January 7 at 3 p.m.