WEBSTER GROVES - Webster University struggled shooting the ball from both the 3-point line and the free throw line here Tuesday as the fourth-seeded Gorloks suffered a disappointing 88-70 loss to fifth-seeded Iowa Wesleyan in the first round of the 2021 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at Grant Gymnasium.

With the setback, Webster ends the season with a 4-6 overall record, while Iowa Wesleyan improved to 5-9 and advances to face top-seeded Blackburn in the semifinal round of the tournament on Thursday, April 8 in Carlinville, Ill. 

The Gorloks, who were the defending SLIAC Tournament champions, finished the night making just three pointers as they were 3-for-19 (16 percent) from downtown and they went 15-for-25 (60 percent) from the free throw line in suffering its third straight loss to close the season. 

Webster's disparity from the 3-point line proved to be one of the biggest differences in Tuesday's game as the Tigers, who snapped a five-game losing to the Gorloks and also won its first-ever SLIAC Tournament game, made 10 treys and shot 46 percent from the 3-point line, including connecting on seven of those treys in the first half to give IWU a 43-29 halftime lead. The Tigers outscored the Gorloks 30-9 from the 3-point line in the win. 

Senior forward Rodson Etienne (West Palm Beach, Fla./Royal Palm Beach) paced Webster offensively on the night as he scored 22 points, including tallying 14 of them in the second half of his final collegiate game. With the 22 points, Etienne passed Hunter Ward for 10th on the school's career scoring chart as he finish his four year Webster career with 1,169 points. Hunter Ward scored 1,167 points from 2013-17.Along with finishing 10th in career scoring, Etienne finished as the school's all-time leader in field goal percentage (60.1 percent), second in career field goals made (510), seventh in career blocked shots (63), ninth in career games started (69), ninth in career minutes played (2,353) and 11th in career rebounding (441). 

In addition to Etienne's 22 points, sophomore guard Wynne Brown, Jr. (Memphis, Tenn./Bartlett) and freshman forward Markus Becton (Bellwood, Ill./Westchester St. Joseph) each had 12 points, while Brown, Jr., added a career-high eight rebounds and dished out six assists in the loss. 

Along with Etienne, two other seniors played their final games as Gorloks on Tuesday night as guard Lance Hatten (Greenaces, Fla./Berean Christian) started and played 16 minutes, but didn't score in his final college game and forward Ethan Hughes (Union, Mo./Park University) scored seven points and pulled down eight rebounds in his final college game.  

Hughes scored the first basket of the game on a lay-up just 21 seconds into the game to give the Gorloks a 2-0 lead, but little did the Gorloks know that would be their final lead of the game as IWU used a 17-4 run to push out to a 17-6 lead. The run by the Tigers began with and ended with a trey from Alex Dentlinger. 

The lead would balloon to as much as 17 points at 28-11 just 10 minutes into the game. During that run, IWU hit four consecutive treys, including Jett Tjaden capping the run with a 3-pointer with 10:07 left in the half. 

Following that run by the Tigers, the Gorloks would respond with a 12-4 run keyed by six points from Etienne to take pull within 32-23 with 5:51 left in the opening half. IWU, though, would answer back by closing the first half on an 11-6 run to take its 43-29 lead at the half. 

In the first half, IWU hit seven 3-pointers and they were 7-for-14 from long distance, while the Gorloks went 0-for-6 from the 3-point line. 

After Iowa Wesleyan opened the second half by scoring six of the first eight points to push out to a 49-31 lead just three-plus minutes into the half, the Gorloks would make another push as they scored eight of the next 10 points to cut IWU's lead to 12 points at 51-39 following a free throw by freshman guard Jason Coleman (Memphis, Tenn./Overton). 

That would be as close as Webster would get, though, as Jarryd Fernandes hit a lay-up with 13:16 left in the game to begin a 12-0 run by the Tigers to push its lead to 63-39 with 10:29 left in the game. The Tigers' lead would eventually grow to as much as 27 points at 84-57 following a basket by Amari Porter with 3:06 left in game. 

Webster would close the game on a 13-4 run to cap the scoring, including Brown, Jr., and Etienne combining to score 11 of those 13 points as Etienne scored Webster's final basket of the season on a lay-up with 33 seconds left. 

Fernandes paced five Iowa Wesleyan players in double figures as he had a double-double of 23 points and 11 points, while Carver Locke added 15 points and seven rebounds and Shawn LaFrance tallied 12 points and six rebounds, with all 12 of those points and five of those six boards coming in the second half. The other two double figure scorers were Dentlinger and Kaleb Cresswell as they had 11 and 10 points respectively. 

Former Gorlok Marvin Saintolein, who played at Webster from 2017-19, had five points, four rebounds and dished six assists for the Tigers, who finished with 20 assists on its 36 made baskets. 

The Gorloks finished the game shooting 41 percent from the field, while IWU shot 55 percent from the field, including shooting 61 percent from the floor in the second half. The Tigers, though, shot just 46 percent (6-for-13) from the free throw line.

Webster was outrebounded 39-35 and both teams each had 11 turnovers, but IWU scored 19 points off of Webster's turnovers. The Gorloks scored 14 points off of IWU's turnovers.