2008 Woodie Awards
Men's basketball falls to Blackburn
Gorloks beat Principia in first round of conference tournament; lose in title game 65-52
By: Rachael Horne
Issue date: 3/3/05 Section: Sports
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Blackburn qualified for the NCAA Tournament with the victory over regular season champion Webster in the title game.
Blackburn's tournament MVP Cory Waters opened the championship game by hitting a three pointer, and the Beavers never looked back. Waters scored 17 points, hitting five of six from behind the arc, and teammate Todd Stevens chipped in with a perfect three for three on three-pointers. Blackburn shot 49 percent from the floor and the Beavers' defense held Webster to 30.2 percent shooting on the home court.
"We came out flat," Webster senior Steve Waterkotte said. "Once they jumped ahead it was hard to come back. The style they play made it hard to erase the deficit."
A three pointer by Blackburn's Stevens with six minutes left in the first half put the Beavers up by 15. Webster made a late rally in the last five minutes finally getting some shots to fall.
Senior Kaniela Aiona scored the next four points hitting two free throws then a layup. Sophomore Scott Spinner hit a three at the 2:11 mark cutting Blackburn's lead to eight. But Blackburn's shots continued to fall.
A lay up by Blackburn's Dee Jones allowed for a 10-point lead. With 42 seconds left in the first half, junior Christian Basilio was sent to the free throw line. He connected on both shots cutting the lead back to eight.
A steal and three pointer by Waterkotte gave the Gorloks some momentum going into the second half and cut the lead to five points.
"At the half we realized we probably played the poorest half of the season and were still only down five," Waterkotte said. "We thought even though we played that poorly, we would still be able to turn it around."
Head Coach Chris Bunch felt that throughout the season the team did a good job of having a different guy play well to carry them on different nights.
"This time it seemed like everyone picked the same night to have an off night," Bunch said. "We rushed some things and got out of our normal game and that made it tough."