Griffins Fall As Time Expires Against Blackburn

ST. LOUIS, Mo.—The Fontbonne University men's basketball team dropped an absolute heartbreaker on Saturday afternoon, falling 81-79 in the final seconds against Blackburn.

The Griffins (1-5; 0-2 SLIAC), were on top 79-74 with 1:01 on the clock after Jared Woodcock made his lay-up. The Beavers (4-1; 2-0 SLIAC), came down the court 13.0 seconds later and trimmed the deficit down to two (79-77), on Nigel Ferrell's made 3-pointer.

After a timeout by Blackburn, Malcom Scott made his lay-up to tie the game at 79-79 with 13.0 seconds left. Both teams exchanged full timeouts but the Griffins had the ball with a chance to win.

However, the team got the ball in but it went off an FBU player and out of bounds, giving Blackburn a chance for the win with 4.0 seconds remaining. Karson Hayes got the inbound pass from Nigel Ferrell and he weaved his way to the basket.

The guard got his lay-up shot off just before time expired, the ball rattled around the rim before falling in, giving Blackburn an 81-79 victory.

Fontbonne shot 50.0 percent from the field for the third straight game and they were led by Kris McCann's team-high 14 points. Luke DeLine netted 13, while Erich Schark and James Wiggins contributed 11 and 10 respectively. Off the bench, Noah Coddington totaled six points and a game-high eight boards.

Blackburn, meanwhile, forced 21 Griffin turnovers and its bench outscored Fontbonne 41-23. That can be attributed to Duncan King's game-high 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Malcolm Scott went 8-of-10 to finish with 18 points, while Reed Rusten sank 13.

In the first half, it was Blackburn opening the game with a 13-7 lead on Rusten's made 3-pointer at 15:41. With 8:25 on the clock, the Beavers were on top 25-21 after Jahmad Wilburn made both of his free throws for FBU.

Then, a quick 4-0 run by the Griffins notched it up at 25-25 on Coddington's made basket. Later, with 4:08 remaining, Fontbonne took the lead at 29-28 on McCann's basket.

It was all Fontbonne the rest of the way, closing out the half on a 7-4 run, capped off by Wilburn's made lay-up with 2.0 seconds left to give them a 38-32 lead at the break.

Things continued to roll right along for Fontbonne in the third. At 15:55, Thomas Ritter made his two-pointer to make it 49-38 outing.

The Beavers tried to stick around at 10:22 on King's basket but on the ensuing possession, Schark scored a two-pointer of his own to get the lead back out to five (57-52).

FBU maintained its control of the game with 7:26 left as Ritter scored to extend the lead out to 67-57. However, as the clock continued to tick away, so did Fontbonne's lead.

Down 69-66, the Beavers got a huge 3-pointer from King to tie it at 69-all and that forced the Griffins coaching staff to take a timeout.

The team later got the lead back on DeLine's bucket to put the scoreboard at 73-71 with 2:22 to go. Blackburn responded as Malcolm Scott found Karson Hayes and he sank the 3-pointer to put the Beavers out in front 74-73.

The Griffins earned the lead back less than a minute later and stretched it out to five with 1:01 to go. Blackburn battled back though, and finished off its efforts on Hayes' made two-pointer with 0:00 on the clock, giving them the 81-79 win.

Fontbonne looks to bounce back at home on Tuesday night as they'll take on St. Louis College of Pharmacy. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

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