WEBSTER GROVES - The top-seeded and back-to-back regular season St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Webster University Gorloks are set to open play on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the semifinal round of the 2020 SLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament at Grant Gymnasium on the Webster campus against No. 4 seeded Blackburn College.

The winner of Thursday's semifinal game will advance to Saturday's 3 p.m. championship game against the winner of Thursday's first semifinal game that features No. 2 seeded Greenville University (13-12, 12-6 SLIAC) meeting No. 3 seeded Fontbonne University (14-11, 12-6 SLIAC). The Greenville-Fontbonne semifinal game is scheduled to tip-off at 5:30 p.m. 

Webster, who is making its second consecutive and league-high 22nd all-time appearance in this year's SLIAC Tournament, enters the postseason sporting a 17-8 overall record and brought home its second straight and 10th all-time regular season SLIAC title after posting a 16-2 record in league play. The Gorloks, who are the reigning SLIAC Tournament runners-up as they fell 70-69 to third-seeded Eureka in last year's championship game, enter the tournament having won 10 consecutive games and 15 of its last 16 games to close the regular season with the lone loss being an 85-79 setback at Eureka College on Jan. 18. 

Meanwhile, Blackburn, who is facing Webster for the second consecutive season in the SLIAC Tournament semifinals, enters the postseason having won two straight games and six of its last seven games with the only setback being an 80-61 loss at home on Feb. 15 to Webster to close the regular season with a 13-12 overall record. The Beavers finished in a three-way tie for second place in the league standings with a 12-6 record, but earned the No. 4 seed due to losing tie-breakers to both Fontbonne and Greenville. It marks the third consecutive season that Blackburn has won at least 13 games as they went 15-12 in 2017-18 and tallied a 13-13 record a season ago. 

Thursday's game will mark the third meeting this season between the two schools and the 60th all-time in the series as Webster holds a slight 35-34 edge in the series. The Gorloks swept the season series from the Beavers as they collected a 77-58 win at home on Jan. 15 an and then earned an 80-61 win at Blackburn on Feb. 15. It marked the first time since the 2015 season that Webster swept the season series from Blackburn. In addition, Webster is facing Blackburn in the SLIAC Tournament for second consecutive season and fifth time overall as Blackburn has won three of the four previous postseason meetings. 

Three of the four teams that played in last year's tournament at Webster are making return trips this season, while Fontbonne is making a return to the SLIAC Tournament for the first time since 2015.  The four teams in this year's tournament have made a combined 58 appearances, won a combined 12 titles and have posted a combined record of 45-40. Webster has made the most appearances with 22, while Blackburn is next with 14 appearances. Fontbonne has won the most title among the four teams in year's tournament with five, while Blackburn has won three and Greenville and Webster have each won two titles. 

Webster comes into Thursday's semifinal match-up with Blackburn with one of the top defenses in the league as the Gorloks lead the league in scoring defense (75.8 ppg) and are second in both field goal percentage defense (42.3 percent) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (34.2 percent) and are third in the league in blocked shots (4.0 bpg) and fourth in steals (8.8 spg). Webster's defense has held 12 of its 25 opponents under 75 points and have held 15 of their 25 foes under 45 percent shooting from the field. 

While its defense is one of the best in the league, the Gorloks offense has really picked up the pace since the beginning of the New Year as Webster enters the SLIAC Tournament averaging 81.8 points per game, but the Gorloks lead the SLIAC in field goal percentage (48.8 percent) and is third in 3-point field goal percentage (35.8 percent) and is second in the league in scoring margin at +6.0. Webster's offense has scored 78 or more points in 14 games, including scoring over 90 points in nine of its last 17 games and topping the century mark two times. 

Leading the way offensively for Webster is senior guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton). Johnson is averaging 18.3 points per game and is shooting 45 percent from the field, 42 percent from the 3-point line and a league-leading 87.1 percent at the free throw line. Johnson, who is the program's No. 8 all-time leading scorer as he had tallied 1,193 points, has reached double figures in 21 of 23 games this season, including scoring in double digits in eight straight games heading into Thursday's game with Blackburn. Johnson has scored 30 or more points in three games this season, including a career high 35 points earlier this season at Principia and has reached double figures in 43 of his last 48 games dating to last season. 

In addition to Johnson, three other Gorloks are averaging in double figures, led by junior forward Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach). Etienne is averaging 16.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game and is second in the league in field goal percentage at 62.4 percent and he has tallied double figures in scoring in 20 games, including nine consecutive games of scoring 10 or more points and is 71 points shy of the 1,000 Point Club as he has scored 929 points in his Webster career. 

The other two double-digit scorers this season are senior forward Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) and freshman guard Wynne Brown, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett). Tankins, who became the 13th player in school history to eclipse the 1,000 point mark with his 14 point effort last Saturday at Iowa Wesleyan, enters the postseason averaging 14.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and is shooting 50 percent from the field and 73 percent from the free throw line. Tankins has recorded 12 double-doubles on the the season, including tallying double-doubles in five consecutive games and has had 21 double figure scoring games and 13 double-digit rebound efforts, while Brown is averaging 10.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game and is shooting 48 percent from the field, 40 percent from the 3-point line and 84 percent at the free throw line and has scored in double figures in 14 games and has had four games of 20 or more points, including tallying 24 points in this past Saturday's 87-77 win at Iowa Wesleyan.

Webster is coached by Chris Bunch, who is in his 18th season at the helm of the Gorloks. In his 18 years at Webster, Bunch has compiled a 281-187 record and is 217-79 in regular season SLIAC games. He has taken home five SLIAC Coach of the Year honors and has led WU to eight regular season SLIAC titles, two SLIAC Tournament titles, two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2011 and 2014 and has led the Gorloks to seven 17-plus win seasons, including three 20 win campaigns.

Webster's opponent on Thursday, Blackburn, comes into the tournament with one of the defenses in the league as the Beavers are second in the league behind Webster in scoring defense as they are allowing 83.2 points per game and is also second in the league in steals at 9.5 per game, which is 27th in the latest Division III national statistics and is second in turnover margin at +1.3 as they are forcing 15.7 turnovers per game. Offensively, Blackburn is averaging 80.6 points per game and is shooting 47 percent from the field and 36 percent from the 3-point line, which is fourth in the SLIAC.

Leading the way offensively for Blackburn is senior guard Karson Hayes as he is third in the league in scoring at 20 points per game and has tallied double figures in 23 games, including four games of scoring 30 or more points. He is also shooting 46 percent from the field, 35 percent from the 3-point line and 70 percent at the free throw line.

Along with Hayes, who was a First-Team All-SLIAC selection a season ago, two other Beavers average in double figures as senior guard Nigel Ferrell is averaging 12.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game and is shooting 54 percent from the field and leads the team in both assists (77) and steals (41) and the other double digit scorer is sophomore guard Chanz Aldridge, who is averaging 12.4 points and 2.8 rebounds per game and is shooting 48 percent from the field, 41 percent from the 3-point line and 70 percent at the free throw line. 

As a team, Blackburn has had four players make over 35 3-pointer this season as junior guard Bryson Kirby leads the way with 58 treys and is shooting 42 percent from long distance on the year. Additionally, the Beavers are averaging 9.8 treys per game and have taken 684, which is third most in the league. 

Blackburn head coach Austin Kirby is in his first season with the Beavers after serving as an assistant the past several seasons at his alma mater. Kirby is 13-12 as Blackburn's coach. 

Webster has posted a 9-18 all-time record in the SLIAC Tournament and is making its 14th appearance in the last 15 years in the tournament this season and is also hosting the tournament for the second consecutive year and ninth time overall. Webster won the tournament in both 2011 and 2014 and were the runners-up in 2005 and 2019. At last year's tournament, the Gorloks opened with a 70-68 win over Blackburn, before falling 70-69 to Eureka in the championship game. Since the tournament was reinstated by the league in 2005, Webster has compiled a 6-11 record in the tournament and has lost in the semifinals in nine of those 14 tournaments.   

Blackburn is making its 14th all-time appearance in the tournament and its third consecutive appearance. The Beavers have posted a 14-10 record in the tournament and have won three championships in 1991, 1992, and 2005 and were runners-up in 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2018. The 14 tournament wins are tied third most in league history, while the three titles are also third most in the league as only Westminster and Fontbonne have won more. Both Westminster and Fontbonne have each won five tournament titles.

The champion of the SLIAC Tournament will receive the league's automatic bid to the 2020 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament, which is scheduled to begin play on Friday, March 7. The NCAA will announce the 64 team field selected for this year's championship tournament on Monday, March 3.