GREENVILLE, Ill. - Webster University Men's Basketball scored a season high 97 points, including a 60 point second half here Saturday afternoon as the Gorloks fell one point short against Greenville University in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play as the Panthers hit a 3-pointer with 9.1 seconds left in regulation to earn a 98-97 victory over the Gorloks at H.J. Long Gymnasium.

With the setback, Webster falls to 2-7 overall and 1-1 in the SLIAC, while Greenville improves to 3-5 overall and 2-0 in the league.

Saturday's game was a match-up between the top two teams in the league's preseason poll and both teams showed why they were picked high in the preseason poll as Webster shot a season high 53 percent from the field and outscored Greenville, 60-48, in the second half after the Panthers held a 50-37 lead at the half. 

Webster's defense held the Panthers to 32 points under its season scoring average in the game as Greenville entered the game averaging 130 points per game. In addition, the Gorloks held the Panthers under 100 points for the first time since Nov. 15, 2017 when Greenville scored 98 points in a 130-98 loss at Transylvania. The Panthers had scored 100 or more points in 60 consecutive games before being held to 98 on Saturday. 

The Gorloks, who have won six of the last nine games in the series against Greenville, played Saturday's game without leading scorer, senior guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton), who injured his shoulder late in the Gorloks 66-54 home win on Thursday over Spalding and is expected to miss at least four weeks. Johnson entered the game averaging 19.1 points per game. 

Without the services of Johnson against the high-octane attack of Greenville, freshman guard Wynne Brown, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett) stepped up offensively as he finished with a career high 24 points, including scoring 13 of those points in the second half. He also added six rebounds and four assists for the Gorloks. 

Greenville, who trailed 97-95 after Gorloks senior forward Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) made two free throws with 16.6 seconds left in the game, would take the lead with 9.1 seconds left following a trey from the right side near the Greenville bench from Sontiago Grady to give the Panthers a 98-97 lead. 

On Webster's ensuing possession, junior forward Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) had his lay-up attempt with five seconds left blocked, but the Gorloks were able to come up with the offensive rebound and call a timeout with 1.0 seconds left. On the inbounds play, senior guard Jordan Clay (St. Louis, Mo./Blackburn College) threw the ball towards the rim, but the ball richoted off the top of the shot clock for a turnover to seal Greenville's win. 

Along with Brown, Jr.'s 26 points, Etienne added a season high 23 points and had seven boards, while Tankins finished with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. 14 of Tankins' 18 points came in the second half. Clay was the fourth Gorlok in double figues as he had 12 points and six assists off the bench.

Greenville was paced by a 24 point effort from Grady, while Kameron Vinsel added 17 points off the bench. Quincy Pinkard ahd 14 points and six boards and Chris Jackson tallied 13 points, including a trey that tied the game at 95 with 39.7 seconds left. Jackson also added eight boards, four assists and five steals for the Panthers. 

The Panthers, who made 11 3-pointers and forced Webster into 19 turnovers to hold a 50-37 lead at the half, pushed its lead to as much as 14 points following a lay-up by Pinkard with 15:40 left in the game. Pinkard's lay-up gave Greenville a 65-51 lead. 

Following Pinkard's lay-up, the Gorloks mounted a comeback as they scored eight straight points to pull with 65-59 with 13:13 left. The Panthers, though, responded with a 9-2 run capped by a trey from Jackson to pull out to a 74-61 lead with 12:03 remaining in the contest. 

Webster, who shot 61 percent from the field in the second half, would answer as they used a 25-11 run over the next eight minutes to take an 86-85 lead following a lay-up by Etienne with 4:16 left in the game. The run was keyed by a combined 15 points from Etienne and Brown, Jr. That lead was the first for the Gorloks since early in the opening half. 

After Riley Simmons helped Greenville retake the lead on a tip-in with 3:46 left, the Gorloks used a 9-5 run capped by a lay-up from Clay with 50 seconds left to take a 95-92 lead. Sontiago, though, would retie the game at 95 following his trey with 38 seconds remaining.

In the first half, the Gorloks jumped out to an 8-2 lead just a little under three minutes into the game, but the Panthers responded with a 20-5 run to push out to a 22-13 advantage with 12:39 left in the opening half. The Gorloks, though, responded with an 8-3 run capped by a lay-up from senior guard Blake Ferrell (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South) to pull within 25-21. 

Greenville would once again respond with a 12-2 run to push its lead to 37-23 with 7:49 left in the first half. Webster would answer back with an 8-4 run capped by back-to-back baskets from Brown, Jr., to pull within 41-31 with 5:04 left. 

The Panthers would then close out the first half on a 9-6 run to take a 13 point lead at 50-37 into the locker room.

Along with outshooting Greenville, Webster also held a 54-53 edge on the glass and committed 26 turnovers, but had just seven turnovers in the second half. Greenville scored 25 points off Webster's turnovers for the game. 

On defense, Webster forced Greenville into 22 turnover that led to 24 points and the Panthers blocked 14 shots, including eight from Justin Cross. 

Webster connected on 43 field goals on the day and those 43 made field goals are the eighth-most made in a game in school history, while the 54 rebounds are tied for the 10th most in a game in school history.

The Gorloks struggled from the free throw line as they were 10-for-19 at line and shot 53 percent, while Greenville was 8-for-10 at the line. In the second half, though, Webster shot 73 percent (8-for-11) at the charity stripe.

Greenville shot 36 percent from the field and 39 percent from the 3-point line as the Panthers made 20 of their 52 3-point shot attempts. Greenville made just 15 field goals from inside the 3-point line in the game.

The Gorloks will now take a week off before returning to action next Saturday, Dec. 14 as they host MacMurray College (3-3 overall, 1-1 SLIAC) in a 3 p.m. SLIAC contest at Grant Gymnasium on the Webster campus.