Paulson Caps Career as Panther Scoring Leader

The Principia Men's Basketball team traveled to St. Louis to take on the Webster University Gorloks in their final game of the 2018-2019 season. The Panthers were coming off an incredible win over the Gorloks just 6 days earlier and hoped that the momentum from that game would translate into some success in this game as well. The game would ultimately come down to the wire, but the Panthers would end up falling to the Gorloks by a final score of 98-92.

The game started quickly for both teams on the offensive end as both teams found success with their respective offenses early on. Ethan Hughes would strike first for the Gorloks, and his lay-up would be followed by Webster's Rodson Etienne slashing through the lane for a lay-up of his own. The Panthers would strike back quickly with a 3-pointer from Zack Matters, and then Senior Micah Paulson would get in on the scoring with a floater from just inside the free throw line. Five minutes into the half Webster led the Panthers 9-10 until Micah Paulson slashed through the line to give the Panthers the lead, and that bucket would make Paulson the all-time leading scorer in Principia College history during the NCAA era. Paulson passed Head Coach Todd Zimmerman to take over the record and did so in just three short years at the college, making him one of the most potent offensive players to ever put on a Principia uniform.

The rest of the half would belong to the Gorloks as they would jump into a 2-3 zone that seemed to stall the Panther offense and created a lot of turnovers which lead to easy baskets on the other end. The Webster lead would stretch to 16 points, but the Panthers would not stop clawing their way back, and after a lay-up from Freshman Clark Davidson the Webster lead would be cut to 12 going into the half.

Coming out of the break the Panthers would get the scoring started early with a quick 3-pointer from Micah Paulson which was followed by a lay-up from Davidson that cut the Webster lead to 7 just two minutes into the half. The Panthers would continue to hang around in the second half and would never let the Gorloks establish a secure lead which allowed them to start to make their run with 13 minutes left in the half. Another 3-pointer from Paulson would bring the lead down to 5, then a lay-up from Junior TreVaughn Goodman would bring the lead down to 3, and finally, a 3-pointer from Junior Brennan Paulson would bring the Panthers all the way back to tie the game at 62 with 12:49 left to play. The Panthers would continue to battle back and forth with the Gorloks, constantly losing and regaining the lead for the next 8 minutes until a jumper from Webster's Aron Hopp would put the Gorloks ahead by 1 with 3:58 left to go in the half, and the Panthers would not hold the lead again. The final few minutes would see the Panthers have to foul to try to stay in the game, but the Gorloks would ultimately take this game by a score of 98-92.

Good To Know

Aside from his record-breaking night, Micah Paulson would turn in another huge game for the Panthers with 26 points. Paulson finishes his career with 1579 points, 23 points ahead of now second place Todd Zimmerman. Junior TreVaughn Goodman had a huge double-double for the Panthers turning in 34 points to go along with 14 rebounds and 8 assists, and Freshman Clark Davidson turned in a double-double as well with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Up Next

That's a wrap for the 2018-2019 Men's Basketball season. Thank you for all of the support throughout the season, and we look forward to seeing you next winter for another season of Principia basketball!

STORY COURTESY OF PRINCIPIA COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION