CARLINVILLE, Ill. – Webster University rallied from a 10-point second half deficit here Wednesday evening to force overtime, but would come up just one point short in the extra session as freshman forward Nigel Wilcox (Alpharetta, Ga./Centennial) missed a shot from 17 feet right before the buzzer as the Gorloks fell 78-77 to Blackburn College in a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match-up at Dawes Gymnasium.
 
Wilcox, who led the way with a game-high 22 points, tallied 14 of those 22 points after halftime, including a stretch of seven straight points midway through the second half that turned a 57-44 Blackburn lead to a 59-51 lead with 7:10 left in the game.
 
With the setback, the Gorloks fell to 13-11 overall and 10-7 in the SLIAC, while Blackburn improved to 13-11 overall and 9-8 in the league. The loss also seriously damaged Webster's chances for a spot in the SLIAC Tournament as they enter Saturday's regular season finale at league leader Greenville sitting in a tie for fourth place with Westminster and are one game in front Blackburn, who remains alive for the fourth and final spot in the tournament. Blackburn plays at Westminster on Saturday afternoon to close the regular season.
 
It appeared with 6:42 left in Wednesday's game that overtime wouldn't be necessary as Karson Hayes drilled his third trey of the game to give the Beaver a 62-51 lead.
 
That trey, though, would breathe a little life into the Gorloks as they answered with a 9-0 run keyed by back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) and capped by a lay-up from freshman guard Christian Crespo (Royal Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) to pull Webster within two at 62-60 with 4:14 left in regulation.
 
After Blackburn used a lay-up by Duncan King 21 seconds later to retake the lead at 64-60, the Gorloks would score six consecutive points to take a 66-64 lead following two free throws by Johnson with 1:36 left. The Beavers, though, would tie the game on the following possession on a lay-up by Jordan Clay with 1:09 remaining. Both team had shots in the final 50 seconds of regulation to win the game, but both attempts missed to force overtime.
 
In the extra session, Jordan opened the scoring with a trey and after a bucket by Wilcox brought the Gorloks within a point at 69-68, Blackburn's Rusten Reed drilled a trey to give the Beavers a 72-68 lead with 3:28 left in overtime. Webster, though, used a trey from Johnson and a lay-up by freshman guard Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) to take a 73-72 lead with 2:36 remaining.
 
Hayes, though, would give the Beavers the lead again as he drilled a trey with 2:16 left to make the score, 75-73. Nine seconds later Crespo scored on a lay-up to tie the game at 75 and then with 25 seconds left, Crespo would score on another lay-up to give the Gorloks a 77-75 lead. On the next trip down the floor, Reed would hit his second 3-pointer with six second left in overtime to give the Beavers the game's final three points.
 
Along with Wilcox's 22 points, Crespo tallied 16 points and Johnson added 13 points, including scoring 11 of those points after halftime. Johnson was playing his first game since the Iowa Wesleyan contest on Feb. 3 as he had sat out the previous two games due to a concussion suffered in that game against IWU.
 
Etienne and senior guard Parker Van Nest (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) each had eight points off the bench on the night.
 
In the first half, Blackburn jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the game's opening three minutes and led 12-10 when the Gorloks used a 6-0 run to take a 16-12 lead with 11:15 remaining in the opening half. The Beavers, though, would answer with a 9-6 run to take a 25-20 lead with 7:12 remaining.
 
Webster would answer by scoring nine of the next 11 points to take a 29-27 lead with 4:23 left. The run was paced by five points from Crespo and capped by a lay-up from Wilcox. Blackburn answered the Gorloks by closing the half on a 6-0 run to take a 33-29 halftime lead.
 
Hayes paced Blackburn with 12 points, while Reed added 11 points and Clay and Jamaya Watt each had 10 points in the win.
 
Blackburn's win was keyed by a 42-36 edge on the glass, including collecting 20 offensive boards that led to 15 second chance points. At the half, Blackburn held a 24-14 edge on the boards and had collected 13 offensive boards.
 
Webster finished the game shooting 48 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line, while Blackburn shot 41 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line, but was just 2-for-11 from long distance in the second half.
 
Both teams each had 20 or more turnovers in the game as Webster finished with 20 and Blackburn had 21.
 
Webster recorded eight blocked shots for the game, including six by Wilcox to push his season total to 58, which is second on the school's single-season chart. The single season school mark for blocks is 72 set by Steve Pierson in 1985-86. 
 
The Gorloks will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 17 as they close out the regular season with a 3 p.m. SLIAC contest at league leader Greenville University, who improved to 16-8 overall and 13-4 in the league after its 129-112 win Wednesday at Spalding. Webster suffered a 129-105 loss to Greenville at home on Jan. 13.