Griffins return to SLIAC Tournament action!

Carlinville, Ill. – The Fontbonne University men's basketball team defeated Blackburn College tonight after a wild back and forth first half, but the Griffins' scoring surged in the second half with the Griffins topping the Beavers 83-62. Fontbonne finished 11-7 in conference this season and with a Greenville loss to Webster are headed to the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament for the first time since 2009!

It was a game of runs tonight in the first half. Trailing 13-9 the Griffins posted 13 unanswered points on their way to a 19-2 run to hold a 28-17 advantage over the Beavers. Blackburn didn't back down turning around and scoring 10 straight points of their own to pull within three with just over four minutes left in the first half. Fontbonne then scored six points for some breathing room and headed into the break ahead 38-27.

The Griffins rushed out at halftime to score the first seven points and never looked back, holding as much as a 30-point lead with 6:33 left in the game.

Ben Kissing led the Griffins off the bench tonight as the forward scored 22 points connecting on 10 of 15 attempts in the field and bringing down 10 boards. Kissing also recorded three assists and two steals. It was a night of assists for the Griffins as the team totaled 22 assists with Orkan Bakis notching six himself. Jared Greenlee narrowly missed a double-double scoring 12 points with nine rebounds and four assists, three blocks and two steals. Blake Welch and Richard Dorhauer also scored in double digits

Fontbonne travels down Big Bend to play SLIAC Tournament host Webster University at 8pm on Friday. There will be admission costs but Fontbonne students get in free with a valid Fontbonne ID.