ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Webster University men's basketball team was back in action this afternoon when they played host to the Principia (Ill.) College Panthers for a SLIAC matchup. The Gorloks defeated the Panthers by a final score of 65-63 to improve to 8-8 on the season and 6-0 in SLIAC play. With the loss, the Panthers fall to 12-5 on the year and 4-2 in conference play.

Prior to the start of the game, the Gorloks honored Wynne Brown Jr. and Karl Moore Jr. for reaching career milestones. Wynne Brown Jr. was honored for being the 15^th player in program history to reach the 1,000-career point mark while Karl Moore Jr. was honored for becoming the Gorloks all-time blocks leader with 129 career blocks.

Webster went 28-for-72 (38.9%) from the floor and 6-for-16 (37.5%) from behind the arc. They outrebouned the Panthers by a final count of 45-29 and pulled down 20 offensive boards. Webster forced Principia to turn the ball over 10 times and turned those turnovers into 11 points on the other end of the floor. The Gorloks scored 26 of their 65 points in the paint and dished out 14 assists.

The Gorloks came out in the first half of the game and jumped out to a 16-9 lead in the first 10 minutes. The Panthers settled in as the half progressed and tied the score at 21, but a 13-8 run from Webster down the final stretch of the half gave them a 34-29 advantage at the break.

The Gorloks carried over their momentum into the second half and started the period on an 11-2 run to push their lead to 45-31 with just under 17 minutes to play. The Panthers cut the lead to one over the next few minutes, but six straight points from Webster pushed their lead back out to seven with five minutes remaining. The Panthers tied the score with 23 seconds on the clock, but a layup from Wynne Brown Jr. with 2.8 seconds remaining solidified the Gorloks eighth straight win.

Josh Luster led the way for the Gorloks as he finished with a team high 16 points in the contest. Wynne Brown Jr. and Javane Nugent also finished in double-figures as Brown Jr. had 14 points while Javane Nugent finished with 10 points to go along with eight rebounds. Karl Moore Jr. led the way on the boards as he finished with a team high nine rebounds.

The Gorloks will return to the court on Monday, January 23^rd when they travel across town to Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) University to take on the Hornets for a nonconference matchup. The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m.