(St. Louis, Mo.) – The Webster Gorloks season came to end on Thursday evening against the Maryville Saints, 76-73 in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament semi-finals.

    The opening frame was at an up and down pace with each side shooting the ball at a near 60 percent clip. The Saints (13-13), seeded fourth, scored the first four points of the game but the Gorloks (20-6), the top seed, quickly responded with five straight of their own taking its first lead of the night. The game would remain tight over the next 11 minutes with both sides answering shot for shot until WU went on a 11-0 run over three minutes long to take a 36-27 advantage. After a Maryville jumper by Casey Holland cut the lead to seven, Webster took its largest lead of the half on a Doug Stiegemeier three pointer at the 1:07 mark. The Saints refused to go away however getting back-to-back three’s from Teddy McGrath and Tyler Saxton to cut the lead to four, but the Gorloks went into the break with a 41-35 lead thanks to a Corey Kuhn lay-up right before the buzzer.

    Ryan Turk, Darin Hoggatt, and Josue’ Whitcomb had seven points apiece to lead the way for WU.
McGrath and Saxton had nine each for Maryville.

    The Saints came out of the locker red hot knocking down its first five shots to cut the lead to 48-47 just 2:30 minutes into the frame. Maryville retook the lead on a pair of free throws by Ben Koopman just a minute later and from that point the game went back and forth for the next seven minutes with each side trading baskets until the Saints went on a quick 5-0 run to grab a 62-58 lead at the midway mark. The Gorloks responded with a run of its own to tie the game back up at 65 with less than seven minutes to go. Maryville retook the lead on a three pointer by Jared McCoy but Webster came right back and tied on an old fashioned three point play by Turk. After neither side scored for nearly three minutes Whitcomb put WU back on top with a lay-up with the shot clock winding down, but a three pointer by Saxton just 0:25 later put Maryville back up 71-70 with two minutes to play. The Saints would go up three on a jumper by Matt Baker at the 1:18 mark but Brad Robinson tied the game back up at 73 all with a lay-up and the ensuing free throw. After Maryville missed a couple of shots to retake the lead it got the offensive rebound and scored a lay-up of the ensuing inbounds pass and had a chance to make it a three point game but Matt Diemeke missed the free throw and Whitcomb grabbed the board giving the Gorloks at the final shot. Steve Hrdlicka had a wide open look at a possible go ahead three with 0:08 left but the ball bounced off the back rim and fell into the hands of Aaron Steinke who was fouled and had a chance to ice the game at the foul line but made only 1-of-2 giving WU one final chance to tie the game and force overtime but Kuhn’s three at the buzzer was short giving the Saints the win.

    Maryville won the battle of the boards out rebounding the Gorloks by a 39-27 margin resulting in a 13-4 edge in second chance points.

    Turk had 16 points to lead Webster and was joined in double figures by Hoggatt with 15 and Whitcomb with 11.

    McGrath and Saxton had 15 apiece for Maryville and Steinke dropped in 10 more.

    Webster’s season ends with a school record 20 wins and its third conference regular season title in the last four seasons.