CARLINVILLE, Ill. - Webster University used a 43 point second half here Saturday afternoon to run past Blackburn College 80-61 at Dawes Gymnasium and in the process earn at least a share of the regular season St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title for the second consecutive season. 

The Gorloks, who improved to 15-8 overall and 14-2 in the league, can earn the regular season title outright with at least one win over its final two regular season games next week at home against Eureka or on the road next Saturday against Iowa Wesleyan. Along with earning its 15th win of the season on Saturday, the Gorloks also extended its win streak to eight consecutive games since suffering an 85-79 loss at Eureka on Jan. 18. 

With two games remaining in the regular season, the Gorloks are two games in front of Greenville (12-4) in the league standings and is four games in front of trifecta of teams that are sporting 10-6 league marks - Fontbonne, Eureka and Blackburn. The top four teams at end of the regular season will qualify for the SLIAC Tournament, which will be hosted by the regular season champion on Feb. 27 and Feb. 29.

In Saturday's contest against Blackburn, the Gorloks zone defense proved to be the biggest difference in the game as after the Beavers opened by hitting their first four three pointers, they made only three of their final 23 attempts from the 3-point line, including finishing the first half by missing its final 14 3-point attempts. Blackburn finished the game 7-for-27 (26 percent) from the 3-point line. 

Along with stingy defense on the perimeter, the Gorloks held a 43-35 edge on the boards, including senior guard Jordan Clay (St. Louis, Mo./Blackburn College) collecting a game high 11 boards and forced Blackburn into 19 turnovers that led to 22 points, including scoring 14 points off of 10 first half turnovers. Webster also held a 15-12 edge in offensive boards that led an 18-7 advantage in second chance points.

While its defense was strong on Saturday, Webster's offense continued its hot play in SLIAC action as the Gorloks put four players in double figures, including senior guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) leading the way with 18 points to push his career scoring total to 1,160 points, which is 10th on the school's all-time chart. Johnson is now within 40 points of becoming the eighth Gorlok in school history to score at least 1,200 career points. 

In addition to Johnson's game high 18 points, sophomore guard Wynne Brown, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett) and senior forward Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) added 15 points and junior forward Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) chipped in with 13 points to move over 900 career points. Tankins also added 10 rebounds for his third straight and his 22nd career double-double. Tankins has now recorded five double-doubles in his last eight games. 

With his 15 points, Tankins pushed his career scoring total to 969 points and moves within 31 points of becoming the 13th Gorlok to join the 1,000 Point Club, while his 10 rebounds pushed Tankins over 600 career boards as he has now pulled down 609 boards, which is just eight shy of second place on the school's career chart. John Cooksey (1991-94) is second on the school's career rebound chart with 617 boards. 

After Webster scored the first three points of the game in the opening 75 seconds, Blackburn used a 19-9 run over the next eight-plus minutes to push out to a 19-12 lead. The Beavers would hold onto to lead until Johnson scored on a lay-up with 7:22 left in the opening half that gave the Gorloks a 22-21 lead. 

Johnson's lay-up jump-started a 10-4 run for the Gorloks that gave Webster a 32-25 lead with 3:35 left in the first half. Blackburn, though, would respond by scoring four of the next six points to pull within 34-29, but Etienne would cap the first half scoring with a lay-up and free throw for a 3-point play with 1:05 left to give the Gorloks a 37-29 halftime lead. 

In the second half, the Gorloks would lead by double digits over the final 15 minutes of the half, including pushing its lead to as much as 22 points at 70-48 following a lay-up by Tankins with 3:52 left in the game. Blackburn would answer with an 11-3 run to pull within 14 at 73-59 with 1:43 left, but a basket by Tankins and a 3-pointer from Johnson on the next two possessions put the game out of reach and sealed Webster's third straight win in the series against the Beavers. 

Karson Hayes paced Blackburn with 16 points, while Nigel Ferrell and Javon Stovall each had 11 points in the loss. Christian Wagner and Chanz Aldridge each chipped in with nine for the Beavers. 

Webster finished the game shooting 45 percent from the field and 36 percent from the 3-point line and was 18-for-23 (78 percent) at the free throw line, while Blackburn shot 37 percent from the floor and 26 percent from long distance. Additionally, the Beavers were just 10-for-19 (53 percent) at the line. 

The Gorloks were outscored 20-13 in bench points as junior forward Ethan Hughes (Union, Mo./Park University) scored seven of those 13 bench points for the Gorloks. Stovall and Aldridge accounted for all of Blackburn's 20 bench points.

Webster will look to extract some revenge this coming Wednesday, Feb. 19 as the Gorloks close the home portion of its regular season schedule with a 7:30 p.m. contest at Grant Gymnasium against Eureka (15-8 overall, 10-6 SLIAC). Prior to Wednesday's game, the Gorloks will honor its five member senior class in a pregame ceremony. The five Gorlok seniors this season are Clay, Johnson, Tankins, guard Blake Ferrell (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South) and guard Aron Hopp (Lincoln, Ill./Lincoln College).