Griffins look forward to 2017 play

Babson Park, Fla. - Fontbonne University men's basketball looks forward to playing in 2017 after finishing 2016 with seven straight losses. The Griffins played back-to-back days in Florida New Year's Eve Weekend, losing to NAIA Warner University 88-53 and Webber International University 72-59. Fontbonne enters the second half of their season with a 1-10 overall record. 

Friday night the Griffins first took on the Royals at No. 5- ranked Warner where the team couldn't reach 30 points in either half, netting 28 in the first and 22 in the second. Warner, who has only lost one game all year, sits at 13-1 on the season. 

The Griffins knew Warren Hall would be a tough one to handle from the Royals as the six-foot-two senior averaged 34 points per game coming into the contest. He needed 33 points to tie the school's all-time career points record and finished with the game-high 35 points. He now has 2,165 career points (with at least 14 more games to go) and leads the nation in scoring.

Fontbonne's Kody Ettinger scored nine points with Jake Lake notching eight points while Orkan Bakis recorded seven rebounds. The Royals outrebounded the Griffins 45-38 and forced 18 turnovers.  

Webber International

New Year's Eve day the Griffins led for most of the contest at Webber until the final nine minutes. After jumping out to a 9-0 lead, Webber bounced back to tie the game at 14 apiece with 8:11 to play before halftime. Fontbonne broke open the spread once more to lead 31-22 after a Jack Lake three-pointer with 42 seconds before the buzzer. Webber closed the game with five straight points before the break. 

Fontbonne trailed 41-37 before James Wiggins made two buckets and a free throw to give the Griffins a one-point edge. The teams traded three-pointers (two each) which gave Fontbonne their final lead of the game with 8:50 left to play (50-49) as Webber finished the win outscoring their visitors 23-9. 

Lake netted 13 points on three treys while Tyler Schwartz scored 10 points. Leading the Griffins in passing were freshman Zac Ridenhour and senior Rio Justice Chandler who each dished out four in the game. Webbers' McDonald Jean-Louis recorded the game-high 16 points makine three from the arc and five at the charity stripe. 

In the final contest of the year, the Griffins averaged 34.3% in the field and went to the line just nine times. 

Fontbonne returns to conference play at Eureka College on Wednesday, January 4th and returns to St. Louis to host Principia College on the first Saturday of the new year at 3 p.m.