MARYVILLE, Tenn. – Webster University played perhaps its most complete men's basketball game of the young 2019-20 season here Sunday afternoon as the Gorloks picked an impressive 78-60 road win over Maryville College in its final game of the Randy Lambert/Maryville College Classic held at Boydston-Baird Gymnasium.
The win was the first of the season for the Gorloks as they moved their record to 1-3 overall, while Maryville falls to 0-2 on the season.
Webster, who never trailed in Sunday's game and the game was only tied for 78 seconds, led 36-30 at the half and outscored the Scots, 42-30 after halftime to post the victory and give Webster head coach
Chris Bunch his 265th career coaching victory with the Gorloks.
After shooting 47 percent from the field and 43 percent from the 3-point line in the first half, the Gorloks shot 56 percent from the field after halftime and limited Maryville to just 34 percent shooting from the field for the game.
Senior guard
Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) scored a game-high 21 points as he shot 9-for-18 from the field and added seven rebounds to pace the Gorloks offensively. In addition to Johnson, junior forward
Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) tallied 19 points as he was 8-for-11 from the field and senior forward
Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) posted a double-double of 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
For the game, Webster held a 47-34 edge on the boards and outscored the Scots, 42-26 in the paint.
After Webster held a 36-30 lead at the half, Maryville opened the second half on an 18-12 run to turn a 36-30 deficit into a 48-all tie with 13:29 left in the game. The Scots' run was capped by a trey from Joshua Brooks.
The Gorloks, though, would respond with 12-5 run to push in front 60-53 with 8:50 left in the contest. After Brooks brought the Scots within 60-55 at the 8:50 mark, the Gorloks would use a 12-2 run over the next five-plus minutes to push its lead to 72-57 with 3:14 remaining. The run began with a jumper by Etienne and was capped by another jumper from Etienne.
Brooks would hit two free throws by Maryville to drop Webster's lead to 72-59 with 3:06 left, Tankins and senior guard
Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College) would each hit two free throws at the 2:53 and 2:28 marks to push WU's lead to 76-59. Johnson would cap Webster's scoring with a basket at the 1:19 mark which gave WU a 78-59 lead.
MC's Eddy Castro capped the game's scoring by hitting 1-of-2 free throws with 1:13 left in the game.
Brooks led Maryville with 13 points and six assists, while Barron Neese chipped in with 10 points off the bench as Maryville's bench outscored the Gorloks, 35-12 in the game.
Along with the 14 rebounds by Tankins, Johnson and senior guard
Jordan Clay (St. Louis, Mo./Blackburn College) each had seven boards in the win.
In the the first half, Webster jumped out to 7-0 lead and led 11-1 just four minutes into the game, when the Scots responded with a 13-4 run to pull within 15-14 with 12:43 left in the opening half.
Following MC's run, the Gorloks used a 6-1 run to push in front 21-15 capped by a 3-pointer from Hopp. The Scots answered WU's run with a 10-5 run to pull within 26-25 with 4:45 left in the half.
The Gorloks would close out the half by outscoring the Scots, 10-5, to take a 36-30 halftime lead. WU's run was capped by back-to-back baskets in the final 45 seconds by both junior forward
Ethan Hughes (Union, Mo./Park University) and Johnson, who scored nine of his game-high 21 points in the opening half.
In the opening half, Webster shot 47 percent from the field and made three treys and Maryville was held to 32 percent field goal shooting and was 3-for-13 from the 3-point line.
Webster also held a 24-19 edge on the boards in the first half.
After both teams committed just one turnover each in the first half, Webster had 11 turnovers in the second half, while Maryville had eight second half turnovers.
Both teams struggled at the free throw in Sunday's game as Webster went 15-for-28 (54 percent) from the line, including going 10-for-16 (63 percent) from the line after halftime, while Maryville shot 46 percent (12-for-26) from the charity stripe, including shooting 36 percent (5-for-14) at the line in the second half.
Webster will return to action this coming weekend, Nov. 23-24 as the Gorloks will host its annual Webster Classic at Grant Gymnasium. The Gorloks open the two-day, four-team event on Friday, Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. against Manchester (Ind.) University and will conclude the event on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 3 p.m. against Hanover (Ind.) College. Westminster (Mo.) College is the other team in the event and the Blue Jays will face Hanover at 6 p.m. on Friday and Manchester at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
