ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 17 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team defeated Franklin College, 83-54, in the Round of 32 on Saturday evening to advance to the program's 10th Sweet 16 and second in a row. The Bears are now 21-6 on the season and will face No. 22 Wisconsin Lutheran in the next round on Friday, March 14 at a time and site to be announced.

Senior Hayden Doyle led the Bears with 15 points to go with eight rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Jake Davis scored a career-high 14 points and had five rebounds while first-year Connor May also netted 14 points and grabbed four rebounds. Senior Drake Kindsvater recorded a double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds and dished out three assists.

Junior Ryan Cohen netted the first points for the Bears less than 30 seconds in. Following a bucket by the Grizzlies, WashU scored seven straight points, starting with a hook shot from junior Calvin Kapral, followed by a pair of free throws from Kindsvater and a 3-pointer from Doyle to make it a 10-2 game with 17:45 on the clock.

Franklin's Jessie Morgan III put in a hook shot which Kapral followed up with a layup on a pass from Kindsvater.

The Grizzlies pulled within one point after scoring seven in a row. A pull-up jumper from Cooper Matthews closed the deficit to 12-11 at the 14:55 mark.
Sophomore George Gale slammed one home on a pass from Kindsvater and junior Yogi Oliff hit the back end of a pair of free throws for a 15-11 Bears' edge with 12:21 remaining in the first.

Five points in a row on a 3-pointer from first-year Connor May and a layup from Kindsvater put the Bears up by eight points, 20-12, with 9:39 on the clock.
Down eight points, 22-14, the Grizzlies scored eight straight over a three-minute span to tie the game at 22 apiece with 5:14 remaining.

In the final five minutes of the first half, the Bears outscored Franklin 14-2. Oliff drilled a 3-pointer followed by a free throw from Kindsvater. Doyle hit a shot from distance and May followed with another 3-pointer to give the Bears their first double-digit lead of the game, 32-22.

Davis put in a pair of free throws and following a layup from Franklin, hit a layup with 24 seconds remaining to send WashU into halftime with a 36-24 lead.

In the first half, the Bears shot 12-for-27 (44%) and 6-for-13 (46.2%) from 3-point range.

WashU came out to score the first eight points of the second half. Doyle put in a layup following an offensive rebound from Kindsvater. Doyle netted another layup, followed by an and-one play from Kindsvater. Kapral put in the front end of a pair of free throws to close out the run.

The Grizzlies closed the deficit to 14 at the 11:01 mark but the Bears responded with a 9-0 run. May hit a jumper and Davis put in back-to-back layups. Cohen netted a long ball at 8:16 to put the Bears ahead 64-41.

A 6-0 run with just over five minutes left on the clock put the Bears up by 27 points. Kindsvater hit a free throw and Davis netted a layup. May put in a shot from distance to make it a 75-48 game.

Another 8-0 run for WashU tipped the scale past 30 points. Doyle hit a jumper in the paint and junior Will Grudzinski made a shot from behind the arc and a free throw. First-year Anthony Przybilla scored a layup, which was the final WashU bucket of the game, to push the Bears ahead 83-50 with 2:01 remaining.

Overall, the Bears shot 30-for-54 (55.6%) and 11-for-24 (45.8%) from 3-point range. WashU edged Franklin 46-35 on the boards and recorded 22 assists as a team.

The Bears will take on No. 22 Wisconsin Lutheran in the Sweet 16 next weekend. The winner of that game will play the winner of Illinois Wesleyan and UW-La Crosse.