Box Score Webster's 'David' narrowly fell to Illinois Wesleyan University's "Goliath", 71-70, in the NCAA III first round regional match up in Bloomington, IL, on March 7. Webster entered into the game on Wesleyan's home court a heavy underdog to the #6 nationally ranked Titans, who needed two free throws with nine seconds left to nip the Gorloks.
The script went as many may have predicted in the first half, with Webster trailing, 40-27, at intermission. But the upstart Gorloks held the lead with 9:18 left in the first, 18-17, before a 13-point Titan run put them in control. Wesleyan still led comfortably with 14:03 left in the second, 54-40, when Webster took the controls.
After a pair of Hollis Edwards (SR, Nashville, TN/McGavock HS) free throws made it a 54-42 deficit, a dunk by freshman Hunter Ward (St. Louis, MO/Kirkwood HS) at 12:23 really woke Webster up. It finished a 15-0 run to take a 55-54 lead, capped by a three-pointer by junior Ahmad Smith (St. Louis, MO/Clayton HS) with 9:32 remaining.
That basket gave Smith 11 points for the game at that point, and was career point 1001, making him just the 10th player in Webster men's history to break the 1000 point mark. Smith finished second in the SLIAC in scoring with a 16.4 average.
The teams were tied at 57-57 with 7:51 left when the Titans ran off seven straight points in 39 seconds to take a 64-57 lead at 7:12. The Gorloks went on a seven-point run of their own, tying the game at 64-64 with 5:22 remaining. Despite the loss of Webster center Kevin Miller (Belleville, IL/Belleville East HS), at 5:40, and Edwards at 3:16, to fouls, the teams edged back and forth until a Wesleyan foul with 29 seconds left put Smith at the free throw line. He converted both to give Webster a 70-69 lead.
Wesleyan tried to set up for a final shot, and a foul called on Webster with nine seconds left, sent the Titans to the line where they converted both shots to grab the lead again, 71-70. A Webster turnover with three seconds remaining ended its hopes of an upset.
Smith had 16 of his 20 points in the second half. Ward had team-highs of 25 points and 11 rebounds, with 18 of those points coming in the second half. Ward averaged over 18 points a game in the Gorloks final six contests and wound up with an 11.1 average on the season despite starting only 12 games.
Wesleyan did a good job of bottling up Miller, who averaged 14.6 points and 8.4 rebounds on the season. Miller finished the night with nine points and three rebounds before fouling out with over five minutes to play.
Webster shot a respectable 43.1% (22-51) on the night and 87.5% (21-24) from the free throw line. The Gorloks even out rebounded the taller Titans, 35-31. Wesleyan connected on 10 of 31 three-point attempts, but was 14-25 from within the arc.
The loss ended the careers of seniors Edwards, the Gorloks all-time career steal leader with 185, and center Jarrod Huskey (Hillsboro, MO/Hillsboro HS), who finished with 716 career points and 513 rebounds. Despite those losses, Webster returns four starters including Smith, Miller, Ward, and Aaron Griffin (JR, Farm Haven, MS/Velma Jackson HS), who averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds coming back from an injury.
Freshman guards Adam Etter (Albers, IL/Mater Dei HS) (5.0 ppg) and Jonathan Odjo (West Palm Beach, FL/Suncoast HS) (4.1 ppg) stand ready to help fill the void left by Edwards. Also returning will be Danny Zehner (JR, St. Louis, MO/Oakville HS) who averaged 8.2 points in 2012-13 before missing all but two games this season due to injury
The 2014-15 Gorloks will be looking to defend their SLIAC Championship and looking to do more damage than just make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2015.
