MacMurray Upsets Top-Seeded Webster to Advance to Tourney Championship

ST. LOUIS - Fourth-seeded MacMurray College pulled off a 68-62 upset over top-seed Webster University to advance to the 2012 SLIAC Men's Basketball Tournament Championship scheduled for this Saturday, February 25. Westminster College (Mo.), the #2-seed, won the other semifinal game 74-60 over third-seeded Eureka College.

Westminster and MacMurray will compete for the 2012 SLIAC Tournament Championship this Saturday, February 25, at 1:00pm at Webster's Grant Gymnasium.

In the first game of the 2012 Tournament, Westminster secured a spot in their fourth consecutive SLIAC Tournament Championship game with the win over Eureka. The Blue Jays defense held the Red Devils to just 31.4 percent shooting from the field, while they had four players score in double figures on the offensive end. Joe James scored a game-high 19 points on 7-of-13 (.539) shooting from the field. Verdis Lee recorded a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds and also dished out six assists. Skylar Tolson added 17 points on 6-of-12 (.500) shooting, and Kurt Kovach chipped in with 13 points and a game-high seven assists.

Eureka's Jordan Kindred led his squad with 16 points and five rebounds, while Dustin Fritsch had 11 points and seven rebounds. Mark Lessen, who averaged 16.2 points per game in the SLIAC this season, was held to just three points on 1-of-6 (.167) shooting from the field.

In game two MacMurray made a run late in the second half to knock off the defending Tournament Champions. After trailing 37-26 at the half, the Highlanders came out and battled their way through the second half before taking over 57-56 at the 2:47 mark on a jump shot by Dylan Burton. MacMurray then went on a 7-0 run, giving them an eight-point cushion with 39 seconds on the clock. The Gorloks would get within four points when Dietrick Sooter hit a three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining, but a few missed opportunities on the part of Webster and made free throws by MacMurray in the final seconds had the Highlanders coming out on top.

SLIAC Newcomer of the Year Clayton Whitlock led MacMurray and all scorers with 22 points on 10-of-12 (.833) shooting from the field. He and teammate Brady Slagle also added eight rebounds a piece in the win. Dylan Guthrie and Dylan Burton chipped in with 11 points each for the Highlanders, who finished with a field goal percentage of 60.5 (26-of-43) for the game.

Webster was led by Roman Robinson with 16 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Ahmad Smith came off the bench to add 11 points, including shooting 3-of-3 (1.000) from behind the arc. Stefan Whittingham and Dietrick Sooter added nine points a piece for the Gorloks.