WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University Men's Basketball extended its home court win streak at Grant Gymnasium in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play to 18 consecutive games here Wednesday evening as the Gorloks withstood a late game rally from Iowa Wesleyan en route to posting a hard fought 80-75 win over the Tigers.
The Gorloks, who are now 6-0 at home in SLIAC this season, haven't lost a home game in league play since suffering a 78-61 loss to Westminster (Mo.) College on Jan. 20, 2018.
With the victory, Webster, who has now won six of its last seven games, improved its record to 8-8 overall and remains tied for first in the league with Greenville as both teams are 7-2 in league play. Iowa Wesleyan falls to 6-10 overall and 3-6 in the league.
The Gorloks, who led 71-55 with 7:11 left in the game, saw the Tigers hit four 3-pointers and outscore the home team, 14-2, over a span of five-plus minutes to cut Webster's lead to 73-69 following a trey by Alex Dentlinger with 1:42 remaining in the game. The trey was the fifth of the second half for Dentlinger as he scored 24 points in Wednesday's game.
After Dentlinger's trey, the Gorloks would hit seven of eight free throws over the next 63 seconds to push its lead to 80-72, before IWU's Jake Neubauer would cap the scoring with his fifth trey of the game.
Webster's win was keyed by the stellar play of senior forward
Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) as he tallied a double-double of a career high 25 points and added 11 rebounds. The double-double was the 18th of Tankins' career, which is tied with
Nigel Wilcox for the most in school history. Wilcox had 18 double-doubles from 2017-19.
In addition to Tankins' career high 25 points, senior guard
Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) added 17 points to push his career total 1,039 points, while freshman guard
Wynne Brown, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett) chipped in with 12 points and senior guard
Jordan Clay (St. Louis, Mo./Blackburn College) had 11 points and seven rebounds in the win.
With his 25 points, Tankins, who scored 18 of those points after halftime, pushed his career total to 979 points and is now just 121 points shy of joining the 1,000 Point Club. Tankins is now 15th on the school's all-time scoring chart. Along with 979 points, Tankins has also had 535 career rebounds, which is fifth on the school's career chart.
Iowa Wesleyan, who trailed 40-25 at the half, opened the second half on a 7-2 run to cut Webster's lead to 42-32 just a little over three-plus minutes out of the locker room. The Gorloks, though, would use a 20-15 run to extend its lead to 62-47 following a trey from Brown, Jr., with 11:31 left in the game.
Following a trey from Jett Tjaden that brought IWU back within 62-50, the Gorloks responded with a 9-5 run capped by a lay-up from Tankins to push out to a 71-55 lead with 7:11 remaining, before IWU began its late game rally. Seven of the nine points in the run were scored by Tankins.
Webster, who has now won three straight games in the series against Iowa Wesleyan, jumped out to a 12-4 lead just a little over five minutes into the game. The Tigers, though, would use a 9-4 run capped by a basket from Dentlinger to pull within 16-13 with 8:50 left in the opening half.
The Gorloks responded with a 19-4 run over a span of nearly four-plus minutes to push its lead to 35-17. The run began with a basket by Tankins and was capped by a lay-up from Johnson. Brown, Jr., and Johnson combined for 12 points during the run as Brown, Jr., tallied seven points and Johnson added five points.
After the Tigers hit back-to-back treys to pull within 37-25 with 29 seconds left in the half, Tankins would give Webster a 40-25 lead following his trey with three seconds left.
Along with Dentlinger's 24 points, Neubauer added 15 points, while Jarryd Fernandes tallied a double-double of 13 points and a game high 17 rebounds. Fernandes has scored 61 points and pulled down 36 rebounds over his last two games as he had 48 points and 19 rebounds on Monday at Greenville.
Webster finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field and a season high 54 percent shooting (7-for-13) from the 3-point line, while Iowa Wesleyan shot 36 percent from the floor and 36 percent from the 3-point line, including going 11-for-24 from long distance in the second half. IWU took 39 treys in the game.
The Tigers held a 47-40 rebound advantage, including a 16-6 edge on the offensive glass, while the Gorloks forced 14 turnovers that led to 18 Webster points. IWU had a 16-0 advantage on second chance points.
Both teams each had 20 assists and the Gorloks blocked seven shots, including three blocks from Tankins.
The Gorloks will look to make its two straight wins as they open the second half of SLIAC play on Saturday, Jan. 25 as they travel to Louisville, Ky., for a 2 p.m. EST game at Spalding University (3-13 overall, 3-6 SLIAC). The Gorloks opened league play with a 66-54 home win over the Golden Eagles on Dec. 5.
