Box Score St. Louis, Mo., November 23, 2021 – The No. 18 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team used a second-half surge to defeat Webster 79-47 on Wednesday evening.
The Bears, who were ahead by just seven points at the half, outscored the Gorloks 41-16 in the second half en route to the win. WashU is now 3-1 on the year.
Webster took a 7-2 lead behind a 3-pointer from Wynne Brown, Jr. and buckets from Markus Becton and Brown, Jr. Another Becton score extended the lead to 9-4 but the Bears closed that gap to 9-8 following Jake Wolf and Justin Hardy layups.
The Gorloks' Stephen Hawkins pushed the lead to 14-8 with a shot from behind the arc but WashU's offense got into a groove and took a lead. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Jack Nolan tied things up at 14 apiece and a 3-pointer from Hayden Doyle gave the Bears a three-point edge. A David Windley layup gave the Bears a 19-14 advantage and forced Webster to call a timeout.
WashU came out of the timeout to outscore Webster 8-2 behind five points from Nolan, forcing another timeout by the Gorloks.
The Bears continued to press Webster, allowing no more than a five-point run for the remainder of the second half. Hawkins hit a 3-pointer and Karl Moore put in a layup to cut WashU's lead to 35-26 with 1:13 left in the first half. Webster went on another five-point run to close out the half, as Hawkins hit another three and Moore added another layup. Nolan attempted to get off a buzzer-beater 3-pointer, but missed, sending WashU into the break with a 38-31 lead.
Although the Gorloks scored the first points of the second half, the Bears went on an 11-0 run to go up 49-33. Kevin Davet scored back-to-back buckets, followed by a pair of free throws from Nolan and a layup from Doyle. Nolan drained a 3-pointer at the 16:22 mark to close out the run for WashU.
WashU stretched the lead to 59-37 with 9:43 remaining following a 7-0 run. Wolf laid in back-to-back shots and Nolan scored before Davet closed out the run with the back end of a pair of free throws.
Another 10-0 run for WashU gave the Bears a 69-39 advantage with 7:26 left, forcing a timeout from Webster.
Doyle put in a layup followed by a 3-pointer from Matt Gonzalo. Nolan hit two free throws and Doyle drilled a shot from behind the arc.
As the clock ticked down, Drake Kindsvater recorded two-straight steals and breakaway dunks for the Bears, giving WashU a 75-43 lead with just over two minutes left. Jabari Chiphe and Tyler Van Eekeren ended the game with two buckets for WashU.
Nolan led all scorers with 23 points to go with nine rebounds, four steals and four assists. Doyle added 13 points, five assists, five rebounds, one steal and one block while Davet had 11 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and one steal. Wolf scored 10 points off the bench and pulled down four rebounds.
The Bears shot 29-for-71 (.40) and 10-for-25 (.40) from 3-point range. WashU outrebounded the Gorloks 46-24 and forced 20 turnovers.
WashU hits the road this weekend for the Rhodes Thanksgiving Tournament. The Bears open on Saturday against Dubuque at 4:30 p.m. and will play either Rhodes or Westminster on Sunday.
The Bears return home Dec. 3-4 for the 37th Annual Lopata Classic where they will face Hendrix at 5:30 on Friday and either Hope or St. Thomas (Texas) on Saturday.
