When the big shot needed to made, they fell the way of Westminster as the Blue Jays advanced to the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) tournament with the 96-91 victory Friday at Lee McKinney Court on the campus of Fontbonne University.

The last of the Blue Jay big shots came as the shot clock expired breaking the 82-82 tie with a little over two minutes remaining. The momentum surge from the buzzer beating shot was enough to carry Westminster to the win.

It is the fourth straight first-round loss for the Gorloks. Webster is now 4-13 all-time in SLIAC conference tournament action.

Two other last gasp shots fell for WC, the first capped a 14-4 run to end the first half. The jumper gave Westminster a one-point lead (39-38) going into the break.

Overtime might not have been needed if Webster converted its free throws down the stretch. The Gorloks were a mere 4-of-9 in the waning moments of the game, including splitting a pair with 10 seconds left that could have given them the lead. Instead, they settled for overtime which Westminster controlled for the final two and a half minutes.

The Gorloks seemingly had the first half under control after a 10-0 run early in the game forced a WC timeout with Webster leading by six (14-8). The lead grew to as much as nine on a driving lay-up by Tyler Tiemann.

However, the Blue Jays answered on the aforementioned spurt to take its first lead since five minutes into the game.

Senior Ryan Turk concluded his illustrious collegiate career with a career-high 40 points on 13-of-23 shooting, including 6-of-15 from behind the arc. Sophomore Nick Jones added 15 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field.

Webster wraps up the 2008-09 campaign at 14-12 overall.



NOTES
•    It was the 11th time this season Webster trailed at halftime  The Gorloks are now 4-7 in those games.
•    The senior class is now 0-4 in SLIAC tournament games. It marked the final collegiate game for Eric Paradoski, Ryan Turk, Tyler Tiemann, Doug Stiegemeier, Luke Niebrugge, Steve Hrdlicka and Ryan Jungk.
•    Westminster played the entire overtime without its leading scorer, Stanley Crawford, who fouled out.
•    Close games haven’t been the forte for the Gorloks this season. Webster is 4-5 in games decided by five points or less.
•    It was only the third loss of the season with pulling down more rebounds than their opponents. Webster out-rebounded the Blue Jays, 32-25.

QUOTES
Head Coach Chris Bunch
Initial thoughts
    “Sometimes people make shots. We just couldn’t get the stop we needed. They just made some big-time plays. They made plays, some of them miraculous, but the made the plays they needed to make. You just have to tip your hats to them, they are moving on.”

On free throws
    “It’s odd because we were the best free throw shooting team in the conference. We had a lot of games where free throws won it for us.”

On Ryan Turk
    “He played his butt off. But, I still think we still got caught up a little watching him. We seemed to get stagnant on offense at times.”

Senior Ryan Turk
On his performance
    (Simply shaking his head in disappointment) “But it wasn’t enough.”