Griffins Close Out Season On High Note With Win Over Spalding

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The Fontbonne University men's basketball team closed out its 2018-19 campaign on a high note as they came away with a 78-70 win over Spalding and kept the Golden Eagles out from earning a spot in the SLIAC Tournament.  Prior to the game, the team honored its seniors Kris McCann and Thomas Ritter on Senior Day.

Score: Fontbonne 78, Spalding 70

Where: St. Louis, Mo. (DSAC)

Records: Fontbonne (10-15; 8-10 SLIAC), Spalding (11-14; 10-8 SLIAC)

How It Happened

Both teams shot the ball particularly well in the first half with Fontbonne owning a 48.4 field goal percentage and the Golden Eagles hitting 53.8 percent of its attempts.

The Griffins started out strong with an 11-2 lead as Jared Woodcock scored nine of the first 11 points in three minutes and 27 seconds.

The team maintained its lead as the clock continued to tick away with Jalen Wadlington hitting both free throws at 6:41 to make it a 24-13 game.

With 2:11 remaining, the Golden Eagles got the old-fashioned 3-point play from Keith Wallace to put them down 36-30. From there, Spalding outscored Fontbonne 8-3 and trailed by just one (39-38) after Jobby Howard hit his 3-pointer with 20.0 seconds left.

In the second half, Fontbonne fared much better statically with a 47.6 field goal percentage and got to the free throw line 24 times, compared to just five for the Golden Eagles.

After back-and-forth play through the first 11:00 minutes of action, the Griffins got consecutive 3-pointers from Carter Otwell and Wadlington to give them a 61-56 lead at the 8:36 mark.

The Golden Eagles narrowed the deficit down to 67-62 on Troy Amanor's layup, but that'd be as close as they'd get with Fontbonne hitting eight free throws and two buckets the rest of the way en route to the eight-point win.

Inside The Numbers

• Both Fontbonne (48.1 percent) and Spalding (48.3 percent) shot the ball well from the floor.
• Fontbonne went 21-of-31 from the free throw line, while Golden Eagles went just 8-of-10.
• The Griffins had a 36-25 advantage on the glass.
• Fontbonne got 39 points off its bench and the Golden Eagles ended with 30.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Jared Woodcock led with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
• Gus Kleekamp finished with his second double-double on the year with 13 points and a game-high 10 boards.
• Wadlington ended with 13 points, while Carter Otwell had 11.

Spalding Leaders

• Jobby Howard came off the bench to end with a team-high 19 points.
• Guard Dominique Ellis had a line of 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
• Robert Bendingfield shot 6-of-12 (50.0 percent) from the floor to conclude with 13 points.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates on the men's basketball team.

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