LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Spalding University men's basketball team fell to the Westminster College Blue Jays Wednesday night, 80-60, at Derek Smith Gymnasium. The loss drops the Golden Eagles to 3-18 overall and 2-11 in SLIAC play.

Spalding was led in scoring by sophomore Rylan Rowe with 16 points, and senior Nick Trisko added 11 points and eight rebounds, which ended his streak of eight consecutive double-doubles.

Westminster stormed out to a 16-7 lead over the first 6:35 of the first half, but Spalding answered back with an 11-2 run sparked by back-to-back threes by junior Brandon Williams to tie the game, 18-18. The Golden Eagles took their first lead of the game with 5:35 remaining after James Turner scored his first basket of the game to make it 20-18. A series of turnovers and a three-minute scoring drought for Spalding, however, led to a 14-5 run for Westminster who took a 32-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Spalding closed the gap to four points with 10:37 remaining in the second half when a layup by freshman Steven Gordon made the score, 50-46. Westminster responded with a 7-0 run over the next 1:17 to stretch the lead to 57-46. A layup by Keith Wallace cut the deficit to nine with 8:57 to play, but that was the closest Spalding would come as Westminster pulled away for an 80-60 win.

Up next, Spalding hosts Greenville College. Tip-off is set for Saturday, February 4, 2017 at 3 pm EST.