The Webster University men's basketball team just missed a big, come from behind, win as it lost to Berry College (GA), 74-71, on December 28, in Nashville, TN. The Gorloks overcame a 17-point first half deficit to take a lead but came up short in the game played as part of the Music City Classic.
The loss overshadowed a 25 point effort by freshman Christian Crespo (Royal Palm Beach, FL/Royal Palm Beach) and a solid effort by Davian Joseph (SR, Philadelphia, PA/Lewis & Clark CC), playing his first game for the Gorloks since December 20, 2015. Webster had good performances from its freshmen-heavy roster, but fell short in its lone game of the winter break.
The Gorloks fell into a 27-10 hole with 11:44 left in the first and still trailed, 36-20, with 7:27 remaining in the half before a three-pointer by Crespo jump started them. An Austin Nation (FR, Oklahoma City, OK/Purcell) layup at the buzzer gave Webster a 41-40 lead, completing a 21-5 run. Crespo scored 13 of the first 15 points in the run. Crespo finished the half with 18 points on 7-9 shooting. Rodson Etienne (FR, West Palm Beach, FL/Royal Palm Beach) had 10 points and four rebounds in the half as Webster wound up at 51.4% (18-35) in the half.
In the second half, a pair of free throws by Crespo gave Webster its biggest lead of the game at 50-45 with 18:00 remaining. The Vikings would take a five-point lead of their own at 8:48 with a 66-61 lead. Webster fought back and took a 67-66 lead on a Nigel Wilcox (FR, Alpharetta, GA/Centennial) jumper at 4:56.
After the Vikings tied it again at 67-67 with 3:35 left, there was a three-minute gap without a point by either team before Berry went to the line with 30 second left and hit a pair of free throws, and hit a second pair with 0:16 left. A Crespo layup with 0:10 pulled Webster within two at 73-71 but Berry added one more free throw with five seconds remaining and a three-pointer at the buzzer by Crespo missed the mark.
The Gorloks had lost the see-saw finish that had four ties and five lead changes in the second half. Webster's long range shooting escaped them in the second half as it finished 0-12 from behind the arc.
Crespo leads the team with a 14.8 average per game and has averaged 19 points per game over his last five contests. His 25 points is a team-high for the season for Webster. Coming off the bench, Joseph had 10 points, nine rebounds, four blocked shots, and a team-high four steals. Etienne a team had 14 points on 7-12 shooting and Wilcox had six points and four blocked shots. As a team Webster had eight blocked shots, the seventh highest single game total in team history.
Webster falls to 5-6 with the loss. Berry, a member of the Southern Athletic Association, is located in Mount Berry, GA.
The Gorloks will be back in action on January 3 when they host Iowa Wesleyan University at Grant Gym in a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest.
