The Webster University men's basketball team hung tough in the game's final minutes to beat Blackburn College, 88-85, on January 11 at Carlinville, IL. The Gorloks and Beavers went nip and tuck down the stretch, but Webster came out on top in picking up a big St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference road win.
A Xavier Dortch (SR, Stockton, AL/Faulkner St) three-pointer tied the game at 64-64, at 9:45 in the second half, and a steal and lay up by Dortch gave Webster its first lead since early in the first half at 66-64. An Evan Milligan (SO, Evansville, IN/Evansville Central) dunk on a put back extended Webster's lead to 70-64. Blackburn went on an 8-1 run to take a 72-71 lead at 5:54. With the Gorloks up by one, Dortch nailed another three-pointer at 3:55 to give Webster a 78-74 advantage.
The Beavers would tie the game up twice before pulling ahead, 82-81, on a free throw at 1:37. Milligan dropped in a lay up at 1:15 to put Webster back on top, 83-82. Blackburn missed a one and one attempt with 53 seconds remaining and another Milligan lay up extended the Gorlok lead to three at :37. Blackburn had an untimely turnover and after Dortch was fouled, he hit a pair of free throws to make it 87-82 The resilient Beavers drained a three-pointer at :05.7 to cut the lead to 87-85.
Dortch was fouled on the Webster inbound at :04.3. He hit one free throw to make it 88-85 but a Blackburn three-point attempt bounced off the rim at the buzzer and Webster had a hard-earned road conference win.
Webster shot 57.7% (30-52) for the game, including 58.3% (7-12) from the three-point line. Rabasa Dobbins-Turner (SR, Memphis, TN/St. Benedict at Auburndale) came off the bench for a team-high 20 points, shooting 7-11 from the field. It was Dobbins-Turner's career high total points for a game. Dortch finished with 19 points and was 4-6 from beyond the arc. Milligan had 17 points on 8-12 shooting, had six rebounds and two blocks.
Newcomer Tony Jones (SR, Raymore, MO/Raymore-Peculiar), who joined the squad over the break, had 14 points, four rebounds, and five blocks off the bench. Freshman Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, MO/Timberland) had eight points and seven rebounds.
Though its been an up and down season so far for Webster, the Gorloks lead the nation in one statistic in the NCAA III...they commit the least fouls per game of any of the 416 programs at just 13.2 per game. The Gorloks are also ranked seventh nationally in assists per game (19.0) and the 133 points they scored against Greenville is tied for the 13th most in a game this season. Individually, Milligan is ranked 11th nationally in blocked shots (35) and 13th in field goal percentage (64.8).
The win ended a two-game skid against the Beavers. After a run of 16 wins in 17 contests with Blackburn, Webster dropped both games to the Beavers last season. Webster is 4-3 in the SLIAC and 7-7 overall. Blackburn is now tied with Webster at 4-3 in the SLIAC and is 7-7 overall as well.
Webster continues a four-game road stretch with a game at MacMurray College on January 14, in Jacksonville, IL
