FULTON, Mo. – The Westminster men's basketball team defeated Iowa Wesleyan 89-71 on Saturday in a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup. With the win, the Blue Jays are now 2-6 overall and 1-1 in SLIAC play.
Iowa Wesleyan took an early lead with a 14-6 run before the Blue Jays cut the lead to 14-10 with layups from Makygh Galbreath and Landon Harrison. After the Tigers made a layup to make the score 16-13 Harrison made a three-pointer to cut the lead to three points. Trenton Barbour got the Blue Jays within a point with a layup. The teams then traded layups before Steven Brandt gave Westminster their first lead of the game with a three-pointer that was assisted by Barbour. The Tigers took the lead back with a three-pointer of their own by Harrison made a layup to put Westminster up 22-21. After Omar Wright extended the Westminster lead to 24-21 the Tigers went on a 7-0 run to take a 28-24 lead with 6:18 left in the half. Westminster tied the game at 28-all when Jaxon Althaus threw down a dunk after making a steal with just under six minutes to go. However, the Blue Jays could not gain momentum and were outscored by the Tigers 11-4 to close out the half with a 39-31 lead.
The Blue Jays opened the second half with threes from Wright and Emil Spriggs to cut the lead the 39-38. Ethan Thompson put the Blue Jays ahead 41-39 with a layup and a free throw. The Tigers took the lead back with a layup before Harrison put the Blue Jays up 44-41 with a three-point play. Westminster held on to a single-digit lead until they used a 14-0 run to turn a 60-56 lead into a 74-56 lead with 5:03 left in the game. The Tigers could not overcome this deficit and the Blue Jays won the game 89-71.
Harrison scored in double figures for the seventh time on the season, finishing with a game-high 25 points. Spriggs recorded 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Althaus led the Blue Jays with 10 rebounds in the game. Thompson and Galbreath also scored in double figures for Westminster. Thompson recorded 11 points and Galbreath added 14 points off the bench.
The Blue Jays will return to action next Saturday when they travel to Eureka.
