Men's Basketball Pulls Away From Westminster To Win Its Third Straight

FULTON, Mo.—The Fontbonne University men's basketball team continued its successful start in 2022 improving to 5-1 in the month of January after an 82-72 victory over Westminster.

Records

Fontbonne (9-5; 5-1 SLIAC)

Westminster (6-12; 2-5 SLIAC)

Game Breakdown

Westminster opened with a 12-6 lead at the 12:52 mark, but the Griffins started to chip away at the deficit and eventually tied it at 19-19 with 6:46 left on Caden Clark's jumper.

The Griffins then took its first lead since it was 2-0 on Anthony Jones' 3-pointer putting Fontbonne ahead 24-21 with just over 4:30 remaining. From there, the Griffins never relinquished its lead and closed out the half on top, 37-30.

Fontbonne shot 45.7 percent from the floor in the first led by Elijah Rice with eight points. Clark and Kevin Anders contributed six points each.

In the second half, the Griffins led 42-32 at the 17:06 mark on Will Suellentrop's layup. The Blue Jays kept hanging around with Jaxon Althaus' jumper cutting the Griffins lead down to 54-53 with 8:20 left.

Later, an Elijah Rice made jumper gave Fontbonne a little breathing room at 65-60 at 3:54. However, the Blue Jays went on a 5-0 run to tie the game on Emil Spriggs jumper.

The Griffins, though went 4-of-4 from the line, while getting buckets from Domonic Doolin and a dunk from Anthony Jones to expand the lead out to 73-65 with 1:47 left in regulation. The Griffins made it count from the free throw line the rest of the way going 9-of-10 to secure the 10-point win.

Team Stats

• Fontbonne shot 44.3 percent from the field.
• The Griffins went 15-of-18 (83.3 percent) from the charity-stripe.
• Fontbonne held a 35-34 rebounding advantage and owned a 38-26 advantage in the paint.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Elijah Rice continued his stellar play going 10-of-18 from the field and added 16 of his 24 points in the second half.
• Brent Wagner added 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting.
• Anthony Jones shot 50.0 percent from the field for 13 points.
• Caden Clark had a busy stat line with 10 points, five boards, and five assists.
• Kevin Anders came off the bench going for 10 points and 4-of-4 from the line.

Up Next

The Griffins look to close out the month on a high note on Saturday when they'll visit Webster. Tip-off at 3 p.m.

About Fontbonne University

Fontbonne University is a private, Catholic liberal arts university located in St. Louis, committed to a transformative education and inspiring students to become global citizens who think critically, act ethically and serve responsibly. The university, founded in 1923, is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. For more information, visit www.fontbonne.edu.

Make sure to follow men's basketball on all its social media accounts: Twitter (@FBUBasketball), Instagram (@fbubasketball) and Facebook (/FontbonneUGriffins).