It wasn't the prettiest game it played this season, but when the smoke finally cleared - Webster was in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Conference tournament.

On the strength of its 78-70 victory over Principia Tuesday at Grant Gymnasium, Webster finished 11-5 in conference and will be the third seed in the upcoming tournament. With Fontbonne's 80-67 victory over Westminster, the Griffins will be the top seed and host for the tournament.

Webster will face Westminster 6 p.m. Friday in the first semifinal, while Fontbonne will take on Maryville in the second.

Sporting a starting lineup of five seniors, Webster was slow out of the gate and trailed by five (8-3) five minutes into game before head coach Chris Bunch turned to his usual starters. The change signified a momentum swing. A 23-8 run gave Webster some breathing room and helped push the lead to double figures (26-16).

The Gorloks were able to push their lead to as much as 15 points (67-52) in the second half before a barrage of three-pointers helped the Panthers climb to within six (67-61) with a little over five minutes remaining.

Back to back jumpers by Nick Jones and a three-pointer by Ryan Turk stemmed the tide and aided the Gorloks to the win.

Senior Luke Niebrugge, along with sophomores Jones and Robby Meeh all scored 14 points in the victory. Junior Josue Whitcomb recorded 11 points with 10 rebounds.

• Robby Meeh shot 7-of-8 in securing his career-high of 14. His previous best came against Blackburn last season. He also played a career-high 31 minutes.
• Ryan Turk was held to a season-low six points. He was one assist away from tying a career-high (eight).
  
• Eric Paradoski and Ryan Jungk received their first career starts.
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