GREENVILLE, Ill. – Webster University couldn't overcome 18 made three pointers and a 76 point first half here Saturday by Greenville University en route to falling 134-113 to the Panthers in the final game of the 2017-18 regular season for both teams at H.L. Long Gymnasium.
 
With the loss, coupled with Blackburn's 82-75 overtime win at Westminster on Saturday, the Gorloks fell short of earning a spot in this year's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, which is scheduled for next weekend at Greenville University. Coming into play Saturday, Webster needed Blackburn loss in its game at Westminster to earn one of four spots in the tournament, because the win by Blackburn created a three-way tie for third place in the league standings and the Gorloks didn't have a tiebreaker over either Westminster and Blackburn as all three teams ended up the season with 10-8 marks in SLIAC play.
 
So Saturday's game marked the final one this season for the Gorloks as they close the 2017-18 campaign with a 13-12 overall record and a 10-8 mark in the SLIAC. It marks the 11th consecutive non-losing season for the Gorloks. 
 
Greenville, who claimed the SLIAC regular season title with Saturday's win, hit nine 3-pointers and scored 76 points in the opening half to sprint past the Gorloks, 76-58, at the half. In the second half, Greenville outscored Webster by just three points, 58-55, but the damage was already done in the first half.
 
The 134 points allowed by the Gorloks are the most points allowed by Webster in game in school history as the previous record was 129 set earlier this season when Greenville posted a 129-105 win at Grant Gymnasium. WU's loss at Greenville snapped a seven game win streak by the Gorloks on Greenville's home court.

While the 134 points were the most allowed this season by the Gorloks, Webster's 113 points were a season high as the previous season high was 105 earlier this season against Greenville. Seven of Webster's 10 all-time 100 point scoring games have come against Greenville. 
 
Greenville is the highest scoring in all of NCAA men's basketball as the Panthers entered play Saturday averaging 126.4 points per game. It marked the ninth time this season the Panthers had scored at least 130 points in a game.

Five Gorloks scored in double figures and three of those five players recorded double-doubles for the game. Freshman guard Christian Crespo (Royal Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) led the way with 23 points, while freshman forward Nigel Wilcox (Alpharetta, Ga./Centennial) posted his team-best sixth double-double of the year as he tallied 22 points and 11 rebounds and freshman guard Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) posted a career high 21 points off the bench for the Gorloks.
 
The two other Gorloks to finish in double figures on the night were sophomore guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton), who tallied 18 points and dished out a career high 10 assists to post his first career double-double and senior forward Davian Joseph (Philadelphia, Pa./Lewis & Clark CC) finished with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds and added a career-high five steals in his final collegiate game.

In the early going, the Gorloks hung with the high-scoring Panthers as they scored the game's first points on a bucket by Wilcox and in fact led 16-11 just four minutes into the contest. The Panthers, though, would respond with a 10-4 run fueled by three Gorlok turnovers and five points from Riley Simmons to take a 21-20 lead with 14:05 left in the opening half.

The lead from that point would grow quickly as the Panthers used an 18-6 run over the next three-plus minutes to push its lead to 39-26 with 10:37 remaining in the first half. Webster, though, wouldn't go away quietly as they answered with a 15-8 run to drop Greenville's lead to 47-41 with 6:45 remaining in the period. WU's run was capped by six consecutive points from Wilcox, who scored eight of his team's 15 points during the run. 

That would be as close as the Gorloks would get as Greenville responded with a 27-13 run over the next six minutes to push out to a 74-54 advantage. Webster would sandwich buckets from Crespo and Etienne around a basket by GU's Vari Bonney to go into halftime trailing 76-58.

In the opening 20 minutes, Greenville shot 58 percent from the field and connected on nine treys, while Webster shot 55 percent from from the floor, but hit its only 3-point shot attempt. Greenville forced 17 Gorlok turnovers that led to 24 of its 76 points. 

Trailing by 18 at the half, Webster would come out of the locker room determined to make it a game as they scored 10 of the first 13 points of the second period to drop Greenville's lead to 79-68 with 16:16 left in the game. WU's run was keyed by four points apiece from Joseph and Crespo. 

Once again, though, Greenville responded with a 20-8 run over the next six minutes to push its lead to 23 points at 99-76 following a trey from Isiah Price with 11:26 remaining in the game. Price's trey capped what was a 10-0 run by the Panthers after the Gorloks pulled within 13 at 89-76 following a free throw by sophomore guard Blake Ferrell (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South). 

Webster would make another push as two free throws by Crepso and baskets from Wilcox, senior guard Parker Van Nest (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran South) and Joseph dropped GU's lead to 103-86 with 9:51 remaining. 

The Panthers would answer right back with a five straight points to extend its lead back out to 21 points at 108-86. Greenville's would only dip below 20 points four times over the games final eight minutes as Webster moved within 19 points on three occasions and 18 following a basket by Johnson with 2:58 left in the contest. Johnson's basket made the score, 127-109.

Greenville had seven players score in double figures as Sonti Grady led the way with a game-high 26 points, while Price had 18 points and Johari Dix added 14 points. Josias Parker and Barry Nixon each finished with 13 points, Marvin Bateman added 12 points and Bonney chipped in with 11 points. Price and Grady scored 26 of their combined 44 points in the second half. 
 
For the game, both teams shot over 50 percent from the field as Webster finished the game shooting 58.3 percent from the field and 50 percent from the 3-point line, including shooting 62 percent from the floor in the second half. Meanwhile, Greenville was just as effective shooting the ball as they connected on 52 percent of its 98 field goals and were 18-for-49 (37 percent) from the 3-point line.
  
Webster did finish the game with a 53-38 edge on the boards, but committed 33 turnovers that led to 45 Greenville points. 

Both teams had 20-plus assists as Greenville recorded 32 on their 51 made shots, while Webster had 25 assists on its 49 made baskets. The 49 made field goals by the Gorloks were a season high, while its 84 field goal attempts were also a season high. 

Saturday's game also marked the final game for Webster's four seniors this season as this year's four seniors are Joseph, Van Nest, guard Michael Dunn (Tallahassee, Fla./Florida A&M) and guard Dominic Newton (Nassau, Bahamas/St. Louis Christian). Van Nest scored six points and had five boards, while Dunn finished with two points, four boards and three assists and Newton scored the first four points of his collegiate career.