Men's Basketball Holds on for Win; McDowell Lights Up the Three

St. Louis- Fontbonne University men's basketball almost let go of a 17-point lead, but managed to hang on for a 75-73 victory over St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponent Blackburn College.

In his best performance of the year, freshman Garrett McDowell was on fire, shooting seven three-pointers on nine attempts. McDowell, who previously averaged four minutes a game, ran the court for 25 minutes last night and ended with his career-high 22 points.

Leading only 13-11, Fontbonne put up nine straight points for a 22-11 score with just under six minutes left in the first half. In the final seconds of the half, McDowell connected on his fifth shot from long range in as many attempts, giving Fontbonne the 39-23 advantage heading into the locker room.

Blackburn managed to pull within 10 points, but Fontbonne went on a 9-3 run to lead 64-48 with just under 13 minutes left to play. Blackburn continued to chip away, only trailing by one bucket with 1:40 to go. Fontbonne's layup and lead of four was quickly thrown out as Blackburn nailed a three-pointer seconds later to pull within one with 54 seconds left. With 19 seconds left, Fontbonne completed one of two foul attempts for the 75-73 ending score. Blackburn failed on a three-point attempt, jumper and two free throws in the final seconds of the game.

McDowell recorded the game-high points off the bench. Jared Greenlee posted 12 points and 10 rebounds in only 16 minutes of play.Kody Ettinger scored 15 points and Darius Rucker finished with 14.

During the second half, Blackburn shot 58.8% from the field in their comeback attempt. Jamie Moore finished 4-6 from the arc with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Fontbonne travels to Greenville College for Saturday's 3pm SLIAC contest.