WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University Men's Basketball closed out the 2018-19 regular season here Monday evening by earning its league-best ninth regular season St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship thanks to its 98-92 victory over Principia College on Senior Night at Grant Gymnasium.

Prior to Monday's game, Webster honored its lone senior cheerleader and its lone senior men's basketball player in a pregame ceremony. This year's senior cheerleader is Lexi Hoffman of St. Louis and the men's senior basketball player is forward Vladimir Radojkovic (Belgrade, Serbia/Lindenwood-Belleville). 

With the win, Webster improves to 19-6 overall and finishes SLIAC with a 15-3 record, while Principia closes the season with a 6-19 overall record and a 5-13 mark in the league. The regular season title by the Gorloks is the first for Webster since they shared the title with Spalding and MacMurray in 2014-15 and was its first outright regular season title since 2011-12. 

Webster had already secured the right to host next weekend's SLIAC Tournament thanks to its 128-109 win on Saturday over Greenville University. Greenville finished second in the league standings with a 14-4 record after claiming the last three regular season titles. 

In Monday's game, which came just six days after the Panthers picked up an 88-83 upset win over the Gorloks in Elsah, Ill., Webster used a career night performance from sophomore forward Ethan Hughes (Union, Mo./Park University) and a career high 31 points from junior guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) to hold off a furious second half rally by Principia.

Webster needed a strong performance from Hughes as they played Monday's game without sophomore forward Nigel Wilcox (Alpharetta, Ga./Centennial), who missed the game after suffering an ankle injury near the end of Saturday's Greenville game.  Hughes finished the night with a career high 20 points, added six rebounds and dished out a career high five assists in just his second start of the season. 

Hughes and Johnson combined to score 19 half points to help give the Gorloks a 52-40 lead at the half. 

In the opening half, Webster scored the game's first four points, before the Panthers used an 11-6 run to push out to an 11-10 lead just a little over four minutes into the contest. That run by Principia seemed to light a fire under the Gorloks as they responded with a 25-8 run to push out to a 35-19 lead following a lay-up from sophomore guard Elijah Macias (San Antonio, Texas/Medina Valley) with 8:18 left in the half. The Gorloks run was aided by seven points from Macias and five points apiece from Johnson and Hughes. 

The Panthers, though, would answer with a 16-2 run to drop WU's lead to 37-35 with 4:16 remaining in the first half. PC's run was aided by a combined 11 points from Clark Davidson and Trevaughn Goodman. Goodman paced Principia with 34 points and 14 rebounds, including scoring 13 of those points in the first half. 

Webster would then close out the first half on a 15-5 run to take a 12 point lead at the half. Johnson would scored nine of those 15 points on three treys, including hitting a trey with 53 seconds left in the half to cap the first half scoring. 

Principia, who ended the season by winning three of its last five games, opened the second half on a 22-10 run to tie the game at 62 following a 3-pointer from Micah Paulson with 12:49 left in the game. Paulson and Goodman combined to score 11 of the Panthers 22 points during the run. 

From that point, the two teams would take turns holding the lead over the next six minutes before junior guard Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) converted a three-point play with 7:42 left to give the Gorloks a 78-76 lead. The Panthers, though, would use a 7-2 run to take an 83-80 lead after a lay-up by Goodman with 5:34 remaining. 

Two baskets by Hughes and a a free throw from sophomore forward Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) gave the Gorloks an 85-83 lead with 4:06 remaining. Principia wouldn't go away as two free throws by Micah Paulson, who scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half, retied the game at 85 just a little under four minutes left in the contest.

Webster would answer right back back-to-back baskets from junior guard Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College) and a 3-pointer from Tankins with 2:05 left that gave the Gorloks a 92-87 lead. Johnson would then go 6-for-6 at the line over the final 33 seconds to hold off the Panthers and seal the win. In the final 33 seconds, WU outscored Principia, 6-5. 

Tankins, who recorded just the second triple-double in Webster history on Saturday against Greenville, finished Wednesday's game with 16 points and 14 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season. 

Along with Goodman's 34 points and Micah Paulson's 26 points, Davidson added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Panthers. 

Webster's fourth double-digit scorer from Macias, who finished with 10 points, including tallying seven of those points in the first half. 

Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field in the game as the Gorloks shot 56 percent from the floor and a 53 percent from the 3-point line, while Principia shot 54 percent from the field and 42 percent from long distance. 

Webster held a 37-32 edge on the glass and dished out 23 assists on 40 made baskets. Principia had 21 assists on 37 made baskets. 

Along with having both team shoot over 50 percent from the field, the teams each had less than 10 turnovers apiece as WU finished with eight turnovers and Principia had nine turnovers. 

The Gorloks will return to action on Friday, Feb. 22 as they face No. 4 seeded Blackburn (13-12 overall, 10-8 SLIAC) at 8 p.m. in the second of two semifinal games of the SLIAC Tournament at Grant Gymnasium. The two teams split their regular season meetings as Blackburn won 96-92 in double overtime in Carlinville, Ill., on Jan. 9, while Webster earned a 67-62 win in Grant Gymnasium on Feb. 9.