Hot Shooting Leads Griffins Past Panthers

ST. LOUIS, Mo.— After a hot start in the first half where the Fontbonne University men's basketball team shot 60.0 percent, the Griffins were able to cruise to the 91-75 win over Principia on Saturday.

For the fourth time this season, the Griffins (4-3; 2-1 SLIAC) shot at least 50.0 percent overall in the game. The team tied its season-high with 47 rebounds, including getting done on the offensive side with a season-high 19 boards. The team also posted 25 second-chance points and outscored the Panthers bench 22-2.

Individually, Luke DeLine stayed on a roll this season as the St. Louis, Mo., native went 9-of-14 overall and 6-of-8 from three to finish with a team-high 24 points. Jared Woodcock contributed 15 and seven rebounds, while Alex Movila, Gus Kleekamp, and Jalen Wadlington each had 12 points, which is a career-high for Wadlington.

Kleekamp, meanwhile, nearly had a triple-double after totaling seven boards and seven assists. Ian Cochran had himself a career game as well with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Panthers (1-7; 0-3 SLIAC), shot 44.4 percent overall and were led by Micah Paulson's game-high 27-point performance on 8-of-16 shooting. Trevaughn Goodman had a strong game as well with 22 points and going 10-of-14 from the charity stripe. Brennan Paulson and Clark Davidson sank 14 and 10 points, respectively.

In the first half, the Griffins came out hitting 9-of-10 from the field to take a commanding 22-7 lead over the Panthers at the 14:34 mark on Kleekamp's layup.

The Panthers cut it down to 27-17 on Goodman's two made free throws at 11:21, but the Griffins answered with a 9-0 run in three minutes time to own a 36-17 lead. The team continued its hot-shooting the rest of the way and went into the locker room on top, 49-26.

The Griffins went 18-of-30 (60.0 percent) from the field in the first and controlled the glass with a dominant 23-6 advantage. DeLine had a team-high 12 points in just nine minutes of action.

With 15:59 to go in regulation, the Griffins were in control after Movila slammed his dunk home to give Fontbonne a 58-36 lead.

Over the next four minutes, the Panthers picked up its efforts defensively and trimmed the lead down to 64-54 on Goodman's 3-point play with 11:36 on the clock.

Fontbonne got the offense going again later and stretched its lead back out to 15 (73-58) on DeLine's 3-pointer at 7:56. It was all Fontbonne the rest of the way with the home team going on for the 16-point win.

The team returns to the court next Tuesday as they'll pay a visit to WashU. Tip-off goes up at 8 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.

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