WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University completed some unfinished business here Saturday afternoon as the Gorloks scored 14 of the final 19 points en route to posting a 121-112 victory over No. 2 seeded Greenville University in the championship game of the 2020 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament held at Grant Gymnasium on the Webster campus. 

Saturday's championship game win came nearly 371 days since the top-seeded Gorloks saw it 2018-19 season come to a close with a heartbreaking 70-69 loss to Eureka College in the championship game of the 2019 SLIAC Tournament on its home court and that loss served as motivation throughout the season for the 2019-20 Gorloks. 

"It's amazing. It's a testimony to hard these guys work and how much they believe in each other," Webster head coach Chris Bunch said following his team's 19th win of the season. "When it got to 107-107 with 2:18 left and we called a timeout, they were all like, we're good, we're going to do this. They (the seniors) talked about it all week that this time they we're going to do it and they just believed they were going to do it today."

With the win, Webster extends its win streak to 12 straight games and improves its record to 19-8 overall and earns the SLIAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Basketball Tournament that begins next weekend. The NCAA will unveil the 64 team bracket for this year's Division III Men's Basketball Tournament at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, March 2. 

While the Gorloks team features five seniors, including three four year seniors, is the play of two underclassman that provided a big spark offensively in the championship game win over the Panthers, who conclude the season with a 14-13 record. 

In Saturday's championship game, freshman guard Wynne Brown, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett) led the way with a career high 34 points and added five boards and six assists as the was named the Tournament's MVP. In fact, it was Brown, Jr.'s 3-pointer with 1:58 left in the game that gave the Gorloks a lead they wouldn't they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the game. Brown, Jr.'s trey came 19 seconds after Marvin Bateman drilled a trey from about 25 feet that tied the game at 107. That tie was the only one of the game as Webster lead for all but 30 seconds in the title game. 

The 34 points by Brown, Jr., who named the SLIAC Newcomer of the Year on Thursday, is tied for the 14th most in a game in school history and they most since senior guard Josh Johnson (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) tallied a Webster season high 35 points in early January at Principia. Brown, Jr., is the third Gorlok to earn SLIAC Tournament MVP honors and the first since Kevin Miller was honored in 2014. 

Along with Brown, Jr., junior forward Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) added 27 points , including recording a dunk off a Brown, Jr., steal with 1:37 left in the game to give the Gorloks a 112-107 lead. Etienne was Webster's other All-Tourament Team member.

Etienne and Brown, Jr., combined to score 11 of Webster's final 14 points as Brown, Jr., had seven and Etienne added four points. 

The win, which was the eighth for Webster against Greenville since they began playing the system in 2015, gave the Gorloks its third all-time SLIAC Tournament title and first since 2014. The Gorloks also won the SLIAC Tournament in 2011. 

In addition the the 61 combined points from Brown, Jr., and Etienne, senior guard Jordan Clay (St. Louis, Mo./Blackburn College) added 23 points and eight rebounds, while Johnson added 19 points, a career high tying nine rebounds and dished out six assists.

Two nights after Greenville made 31 treys and shot 51 percent from the field in its 164-148 semifinal round win over No. 3 seeded Fontbonne University, the Panthers made just 17 treys in Saturday's game as they were 17-for-52 (33 percent) from long distance and shot just 43 percent overall from the floor against the Gorloks. 

Bateman, who was one of two Panthers named to the All-Tournament Team, led the way for Greenville with 23 points as he was 7-for-16 from long distance, while Riley Simmons and Henry Johnson combined for 35 points off the bench as Simmons had 18 and Johnson tallied 17 points in the loss. Greenville's other two double-digit scorers were Eric Williams as he had 15 and 11 rebounds in his final collegiate game and Sontiago Grady added 10 points and seven boards. 

Perhaps the most amazing stat of Saturday's game were the turnovers as Greenville, who entered the game forcing nearly 32 turnovers per game, lost the turnover battle against the Gorloks as Webster forced the Panthers into 20 turnovers that led to 22 points for the Gorloks. The Gorloks had just 15 turnovers for the game, including just seven in the second half.

In the first half, Brown, Jr., Etienne and Johnson combined for 39 of Webster's 57 points as the Gorloks shot 48 percetn from the field and forced Greenville into 13 turnovers that led to 14 points as Webster held a 57-46 lead at the half. 

The Panthers would open the second half by scoring 12 of the first 16 points to cut Webster's 11 point halftime lead to 61-58. But the Gorloks would respond with a with a 15-9 run capped by fast break lay-up from senior guard Blake Ferrell (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway South) to give the Gorloks a 76-67 lead with 13:05 remaining in the game.

Greenville would answer with a 14-7 run that was capped by a trey from Barry Nixon to pull the Panther within two at 83-81 with 9:28 remaining. 

Webster's lead would hover around the 4-5 point mark over the next three plus minutes, before Greenville used a 9-4 run to pull back within two at 100-98. The Gorloks had gone over the century mark for the third time this season on a basket by Brown, Jr., with 4:58 left. 

Following the run by Greenville the Gorloks push their lead to five several times, before back-to-back lay-ups from Johnson and Williams and trey from Bateman tied the game at 107 with 2:18 remaining. 

While Greenville shot 43 percent from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point line, Webster finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and was 4-for-11 (36 percent) from the 3-point line. 

The Gorloks also had the edge at the free throw line in the contest as they went 23-for-32 (71.9 percent) from the line. Greenville went 9-for-12 (75 percent) from the line. 

Webster held a 52-46 edge on the glass as along with Johnson's nine boards, senior forward Enrique Tankins (Wentzville, Mo./Timberland) added nine boards and five assists as Webster had 28 assists on 47 made baskets. Greenville dished out 25 assists for the game. 

Joining Brown, Jr., Etienne and Bateman on the All-Tournament Team were Greenville's Austyn Contreras, Fontbonne's Anthony Jones and Blackburn College's Christian Wagner. 

The Gorloks will find out their destination for the 2019 NCAA Tournament on March 3 as the Gorloks will host a selection show watch party at 11:30 a.m. in the Sunnen Lounge inside the University Center.