Welch's three-point shooting leads Griffins to first home SLIAC win

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne men's basketball secured their first home St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) win today with a 73-64 win over Blackburn College. The win marks the Griffins' second straight win and increases their SLIAC record to 3-1.

Fontbonne junior Blake Welch was hot from long range today as he went three-for-six behind the arc in the first half. Welch finished the game with a game-high 19 points on four treys including four assists, two steals and two rebounds.

Fontbonne led 19-8 with almost eight minutes into the game after getting out to a 6-0 lead. The Griffins held a 14-point lead with 8:09 left in the first half when Blackburn turned to their offense, scoring 13 points to Fontbonne's two to pull within four points. The Griffins scored three points to finished out the half with a 37-30 advantage.

Fontbonne opened the second half with a 20-2 run to lead 54-32 with 13:38 left to play. The Beavers chipped at the Griffins' heels, going on a 23-12 run to trail by ten with 3:44 remaining. Blackburn forced several key turnovers late in the game, but ran out of time before losing by nine points.

For the Beavers, Jake Lochhead scored 13 points in the second half while Willie Orange scored all 12 of his points after halftime trying to take the lead. Lochhead finished with a team-high 15 points.

Jared Greenlee finished with his third double-double in four games as he totaled 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Griffins. Greenlee was 6-for-9 in the field. Ben Kissing scored 10 points in the second half, on his way to 12 total with seven rebounds. K. Tyler Williams went 9-for-9 at the charity stripe in the second half. Darius Rucker worked hard off the bench as he totaled nine points and seven rebounds. The Griffins scored 21 points on 28 attempts from the free throw line while Blackburn went just 3-for-9.

Fontbonne travels to Louisville, Ky. on Tuesday, January 6th when they take on the Golden Eagles. The Griffins look to continue add to their conference record with a 8pm EST/7pm CST start time.