CARLINVILLE, Ill. - Webster University and Blackburn College went toe-to-toe here Wednesday evening  as the two men's basketball teams needed two overtimes to decide a winner as the Beavers outscored the Gorloks, 10-6 in the second overtime period to seal its 96-92 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at Dawes Gymnasium.

With the setback, Webster suffered it first loss of the season in league play and also had its four game win streak snapped as Webster is now 10-4 overall and 6-1 in the SLIUAC. Blackburn improved to 7-7 overall and 4-3 in the league. 

The Gorloks, who trailed by four points with 57 seconds left in regulation, pulled within a point at 73-72 after sophomore forward Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) banked in a 3-pointer with 31.3 seconds left. After Bryson Kirby hit two free throws with 25.5 seconds left in regulation to give the Beavers a 75-72 lead, junior guard Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) brought the Gorloks back within a point at 75-74 following a lay-up with 19.4 seconds left. 

Blackburn would once again extend its lead back to three following two free throws by Chanz Aldridge with 17.6 seconds remaining in regulation, but junior guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) would force overtime after his trey with 2.4 seconds remaining in regulation. 

In the first overtime period, Blackburn jumped out to an 84-80 lead with 1:57 left following a lay-up by Karson Hayes. Hayes, though, would be called for a technical for taunting after the lay-up and Johnson would hit 1-of-2 free throws for the Gorloks to bring them within three at 84-81. About 28 seconds later, Johnson tied the game on another 3-pointer. 

The game would remain tied until Johnson drilled two free throws with nine seconds left to give the Gorloks an 86-84 lead. On the ensuing Blackburn possession, Duncan King drew a foul on his drive to the basket and would hit two free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining in the first overtime session to force a second overtime.

Webster took an early lead in the second overtime thanks to Etienne hitting 1-of-2 free throws, but the Beavers would retake the lead on a lay-up by King with 4:23 remaining. Junior guard Jordan Clay (St. Louis, Mo./Vashon), who played the past two seasons at Blackburn, gave WU an 89-88 lead after hitting two free throws with 3:49 left. Clay finshed the game with eight points, four rebounds and a career-high five assists against his former team.

The Beavers would hit five of its next six free throws to take a 93-89 lead with 1:11 left in the second overtime. Johnson would help the Gorloks pull within two at 93-91 following his two free throws with 59.2 seconds left. Etienne brought the Gorloks within a point after he hit 1-of-2 free throws with 32.3 seconds remaining. 

That would be as close as WU would get as King would conclude the scoring by hitting 3-of-4 free throws in the final 18 seconds to seal Blackburn's win. 

Etienne finished the game a career-high 25 points in 44 minutes of action. Along with Etienne, Johnson tallied 21 points, all of which came after halftime. Webster entered Wednesday's game being 6-0 this season when Johnson scored 20 or more points, but that streak was snapped against Blackburn. 

The other two Gorloks to reach double digits in Wednesday's game were Tankins, who tallied 17 points and sophomore forward Nigel Wilcox (Alpharetta, Ga./Centennial), who recorded 11 points and pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds. The 21 rebounds is tied for second most in a game in school history. 

Webster struggled in overtime from the free throw line as the Gorloks went 12-for-20 (60 percent), while Blackburn was 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) at the line. 

Blackburn, who has now won two straight games against the Gorloks on its home court in overtime, was paced offensively on Wednesday by 21 points from Hayes. In addition to Hayes, Raushaun Amos tallied 19 points, while King added 15 points and Aldridge finished with 13 points off the bench in the win. King scored 11 of BC's 19 points in the overtime sessions.

Webster trailed 41-38 at the half despite shooting 56 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Blackburn, who entered the game averaging 13.3 treys per game, hit eight of their 12 3-pointers in the first half.

In the second half, neither team was able to get much of a lead throughout most of the period as the largest lead in the first 16 minutes of the period was five points by Blackburn just 10 seconds into the period following a basket by Amos. 

After Tankins hit two free throws with 3:38 left in regulation to tie the game at 64, the Beavers would use an 8-2 run over the next two minutes to push its lead to 72-66 following a basket by Kirby with 1:39 remaining in regulation to set up a wild final minute of regulation.

For the game, Webster shot 47 percent from the field, but was just 6-for-22 (27 percent) from the 3-point line, while Blackburn shot 45 percent from the floor and 39 percent from long distance. 

Wilcox's 21 rebounds helped the Gorloks finish with a 48-37 edge on the glass, including a 17-11 edge on the offensive glass, in Wednesday's game. The 48 rebounds were a season high by the Gorloks.

The Gorloks committed 19 turnovers that led to 22 points by the Beavers. Blackburn had 17 turnovers.

Along with shooting 12-for-20 at the line in the two overtime periods, Webster finished the contest shooting 60 percent (18-for-30) at the line, Blackburn was 22-for-28 (78.6 percent) from the line. 

The Gorloks will look to start a new win streak this coming Saturday, Jan. 12 as they host Principia College in a 3 p.m. SLIAC contest at Grant Gymnasium.