ST. LOUIS, Mo. – On Saturday, Spalding men's basketball traveled to St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) opponent Fontbonne University. The Golden Eagles defeated the Griffins 67-64. 

SU moved to 8-8 (7-3 SLIAC), while Fontbonne fell to 11-6 (6-4 SLIAC) on the season.

TURNING POINT
The game opened as a true battle between these conference foes, with neither team being able to extend a lead of more than three points for the first ten minutes. Caden Bradford grabbed a defensive rebound, which led to a Devonte McCampbell layup on the offensive end for SU. This brought the game to 9-6 in favor of the Golden Eagles. Kameron Jones finally broke the streak, hitting a three-pointer to extend the Spalding lead to 4, 18-14. Benyamin Kalonji hit a jump shot in the paint to push the SU lead to its largest of the half, 22-15. The Griffins brought it back within three points nearing the end of the half, but Spalding wanted a larger lead going into the half. Jacoby Johnson beat the buzzer with his layup to give the visiting Golden Eagles the lead at halftime, 37-32.

Fontbonne came out of the break firing on all cylinders, going on a 7-2 run and tying the game at 39 with just over 15 minutes left. A Kalonji dunk from a pass by Emmanuel Rislin helped to slow the Griffin momentum. The game continued to go back and forth for the next six minutes, featuring five ties and three separate lead changes over this short period of time. Although neither team could establish a true advantage, Fontbonne did just enough to keep Spalding from gaining the lead for over 10 minutes of game time. With just four minutes remaining, Fontbonne hit a jump shot to extend their lead to 62-59. Andre Crawford was ready in crunch time, however, draining a clutch three-pointer to knot the score at 62-62. Crawford continued to play strong for SU, hitting a layup to finally give Spalding the lead 64-62, their first in nearly 10 and half minutes of action. After Fontbonne tied the game at 64-64, Spalding needed to sink free throws to win. Jacoby Johnson stepped up and calmly sank three of four over the final two possessions. Spalding survived the buzzer beating three-point attempt to win 67-64.

GOLDEN EAGLE NOTES

• Andre Crawford and Dominic Sanders led the way with 12 points each.
• Jacoby Johnson did a little bit of everything with 11 points, three rebounds, and four assists.
• Benyamin Kalonji provided help off the bench with eight points, six rebounds, and three steals.
• Spalding shot 33.3% as a team from behind the arc while holding their opponents to just 11.1% from distance. 

NEXT FOR SPALDING
The Golden Eagles will travel to Carlinville, Illinois, to face SLIAC opponent Blackburn in their second time facing the Beavers this season. Tip-off is scheduled for Thursday, January 25th, at 8:30 p.m.