FULTON, Mo. – Spalding would relinquish their second halftime lead of the week as they fell to Westminster Saturday afternoon, 58-54. This loss drops Spalding to 7-10 overall and 5-5 in SLIAC play and they will hold at least a share of sixth place in the conference. Westminster improves 7-9 overall and 7-3 in SLIAC play to keep sole possession of second place.
 
Senior Brandon Goeing would lead all in scoring with 18 points and James Turner would add 12 points of his own. Nick Trisko would total 17 rebounds to go along with his six points.
 
The first half would start quickly for the Golden Eagles, as Goeing would score the first five points of the game and eight of Spalding's first 10. Westminster would keep the game close as the score line would read 10-7 with just over three and a half minutes gone. Westminster would bring the score even at 16-16 with a Nick Carlos jumper. A jump shot from Matt Jeannelas would cap off a 5-0 run for Spalding, giving the Golden Eagles a 21-16 lead. The Blue Jays would keep it close yet again, bringing the score to 23-20 with six and half minutes remaining. The first half would finish on a 9-2 Spalding run, including a deep three-point field goal by Goeing from around 25 feet. As the teams headed to the locker room, it would be Spalding on top of Westminster 34-24.
 
The start of the second half would belong to the Blue Jays, as they would go on a massive 14-2 run spanning the first seven minutes. This would mark Westminster's first lead of the game at 38-36. Both teams would begin to trade baskets before Spalding would earn their lead back with a 9-2 run after a Turner jumper. This would give the Golden Eagles a 47-42 lead with eight and half minutes remaining in the game. After a pair of free throws from Rylan Rowe, Turner would hit a layup pushing the Spalding lead to seven. Westminster would simply not go away however, and an 8-1 run would tie the game at 52-52 with just over four minutes left on the clock. A Tanner Cochran three-pointer would give Westminster the lead for good, as Spalding could simply not find the basket over the last three minutes of the game.
 
Spalding will try to end a two game skid as their road trip continues into Eureka, Ill. where they will take on the Eureka College Red Devils Wednesday, January 27^th at 9 pm EST.