St. Louis, Mo. – The Spalding University men's basketball team topped Webster, 76-65, late Wednesday evening to improve to 11-13 overall and 9-8 in conference play, while Webster falls to 12-12 overall and 9-8 in SLIAC play. The win puts Spalding in a five team tie for fourth place in the conference standings, as well as a four team tie for the final spot in the SLIAC Tournament with Blackburn, Eureka and Webster.

Brandon Goeing paced the Golden Eagle offense with 20 points connecting on 5-of-10 attempts from beyond the arc, and big man Nick Trisko added a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Terez Smith also finished in double figures scoring 11 points on a 4-of-9 night from the field.

It was a back and forth first eleven minutes of the game as both teams play to a 24-24 tie with 8:37 to play in the half. A pair of Smith free throws and back-to-back three pointers from Goeing and Will Rainey sparked a 10-1 Golden Eagle run capped off by a Trisko jumper to make the score 34-25 with 5:48 remaining in the half. A Hunter Ward jumper with 53 seconds to play in the half cut the Golden Eagles margin to seven points as SU headed into halftime holding a 39-32 lead.

Nick Trisko grabbed an offensive rebound off a James Turner missed three-pointer, and put it back to give SU their first points of the second half to increase the margin back to nine. From there the Golden Eagles started to slowly pull away eventually stretching the lead to 18 points, their largest of the game, following a Rylan Rowe made jump shot with 8:45 left in regulation.  The Gorloks made one last effort, reeling off a 16-5 run to cut the deficit to seven points with 1:38 to play. However, the Golden Eagles dug deep; Turner knocked down a pair of free throws and Owen Mumphy scored a late layup to secure the win, 76-65.

The Golden Eagles will be back in action Saturday, February 20 hosting Blackburn on Senior Day for the final regular-season game of the year. Please arrive early as we will honor seniors Brandon Goeing and Victor Cosby prior to the 3:00 p.m. EST tipoff.