WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University Men's Basketball outscored Spalding 39-27 in the second half here Thursday evening as the Gorloks opened St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 66-54 win over the Golden Eagles at Grant Gymnasium.

The strong second half helped the Gorloks, who improved to 2-6 overall and 1-0 in the SLIAC, open league paly with a win for the second consecutive season and the 20th time overall in school history. Webster is now 20-10 all-time in SLISC openers and the Gorloks have also won three straight SLIAC contests dating to last season.

Senior guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) paced the Gorloks with 22 points, including scoring 13 of those points in the second half. Johnson has now scored in double figures in all eight games this season and 13 consecutive games dating to last season. In addition, the 22 points pushed Johnson's career point total to 925 points, which is 12th on the school's all-time chart. 

In addition to Johnson, senior forward Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) added 10 points, six rebounds and three steals, while senior guard Blake Ferrell (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South) had eight points and four boards and senior guard Jordan Clay (St. Louis, Mo./Blackburn College) tallied seven points, seven rebounds and six assists in the win. 

After the teams were tied at 27 at the half, the Gorloks opened the second half on an 8-3 run to take a 35-30 lead just a little under three minutes into the half. Splading (0-6 overall, 0-1 SLIAC), though, would respond with an 11-4 run to take a 41-39 lead after a lay-up by Jaiquan Edwards with 10:10 left in the game. Spalding's run was keyed by six points from Marcus Montgomery, who finished the game with a team-high 16 points and added eight boards for the Golden Eagles. 

Following Spalding's run, the Gorloks, who snapped a three game losing skid with Thursday's win, would answer with a 12-0 run that spanned two-and-half minutes to push out to a 51-41 lead with 7:40 left in the game. The Gorloks' run began with a lay-up by Clay and on the ensuing possession, freshman forward Javane Nugent (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) scored on a lay-up to give the Gorloks a lead they wouldn't relinquish. The run was capped by a 3-pointer from junior guard Elijah Macias (San Antonio, Texas/Medina Valley). 

After the 10-0 run by the Gorloks, Spalding would would score eight of the next 11 points to pull within 54-49 with 4:54 left in the game, but that would be as close as Spalding would get as Johnson drilled a trey with 3:49 left that began a 12-5 run by the Gorloks to close the game. Johnson scored five points during the run, including capping the scoring with two free throws with 1:01 remaining in the game. 

Along with Montgomery's 16 points, Robert Bendingfield added 13 points and seven assists for Spalding and Edwards chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds in the loss. Bendingfield had eight of his 13 points in the first half. 

The Gorloks finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line, while Spalding shot 43 percent from the floor and 27 percent from the 3-point line. 

Webster was outrebounded, 35-32, but they forced 14 turnovers, including 10 turnovers in the second half that led to nine points. The Gorloks finished the game with a 16-7 edge in points off turnovers and they had 10 steals for the game. 

The Gorloks blocked five shots and had 18 assists on 24 made baskets. Spalding had 16 assists and three blocks.

Both teams struggled at the free throw line as Webster shot 57 percent (12-for-21) from the line, while Spalding was 4-for-10 (40 percent) at the charity stripe on the night. 

Webster will look to move to 2-0 in SLIAC play this coming Saturday, Dec. 7 as the Gorloks travel to Greenville, Ill., for a 3 p.m. league contest against Greenville University (2-5 overall, 1-0 SLIAC).