WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University men's basketball used a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds from junior guard Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) here Wednesday evening en route to picking up a 67-53 win over Spalding in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action at Grant Gymnasium.

With the victory, Webster extends its win streak to five straight games and improves its record to 15-4 overall and 11-1 in the SLIAC, while Spalding falls to 9-11 overall and 8-5 in the league. 

Tankins' double-double and the near double-double of eight points and a career-high 10 rebounds from junior guard Jordan Clay (St. Louis, Mo./Blackburn College) sparked a strong second half from the Gorloks as they turned a 32-30 halftime lead into 14 point victory. 

In the second half, Tankins, who has now posted seven double-doubles on the year, scored 10 points and had nine boards, while Clay added six points and seven boards in the period. In addition to those two players, sophomore Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) scored eight of his 11 points after halftime. 

Trailing 32-30 at halftime, Spalding opened the second half on a 7-5 run to tie the game at 37 just four minutes into the half, before the Gorloks used an 8-2 run to push in front 45-39 with 13:18 left in the game. The run began with a trey from Tankins and was capped by two free throws from sophomore guard Elijah Macias (San Antonio, Texas/Medina Valley). 

After back-to-back baskets by the Golden Eagles dropped WU's lead to 45-43, the Gorloks responded with an 11-6 run to push its lead to 56-49 with 4:57 remaining. Spalding, though, would use a lay-up by Brian Tribble with 4:38 left in the game to drop Webster's lead to 56-51. 

That would be as close as the Golden Eagles would get as two free throws from junior guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo../Clayton) and back-to-back baskets from Tankins and Etienne pushed WU's lead to 62-51 with 2:24 remaining. After Jerry Coleman connected on a lay-up with 1:20 left to drop WU's lead to 63-53, Etienne would score game's final four points, including capping the scoring with a dunk at the 39 second mark to seal Webster's sixth straight home win. 

Along with Tankins and Etienne, the third Gorlok to score in double figures was Macias as he tied his career high with 12 points, including scoring 10 of those points in the first half. 

Marcus Montgomery led Spalding with 17 points, while Dominique Ellis added 12 points and five boards. Montgomery and Ellis scored 20 of Spalding's 30 first half points. 

The Gorloks shot 44 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line, while Spalding shot 40 percent from the field, but was held to 21 percent (3-for-14) from the 3-point line. 

Wednesday's game did see the double-double streak from sophomore forward Nigel Wilcox (Alpharetta, Ga./Centennial) end as Wilcox had recorded five straight double-doubles before finishing with eight points and five boards against Spalding. 

The game also saw the return of Johnson to the Gorlok line-up as the team's leading scorer had missed the last two games due to pneumonia. In Wednesday's game, Johnson scored seven points, had four assists and three boards. 

Webster finished the game with a 37-32 edge on the glass and forced 15 turnovers that led to 11 points. The Gorloks committed 11 turnovers and blocked seven shots, including three blocks by Tankins and two blocks by Wilcox. 

The Gorloks had 19 assists on 25 made baskets and was 12-for-15 (80 percent) from the free throw line. Spalding had 17 assists on 23 made baskets, but was just 4-for-6 (67 percent) from the free throw line. 

Webster will look to make it six consecutive victories this coming Saturday, Feb. 2 as the Gorloks travel to Eureka, Ill., for a 3 p.m. SLIAC contest against Eureka College. The Gorloks earned a hard-fought 84-76 win over the Red Devils at home on Jan. 2.