Sewanee freshman Anvil Nelson (Brentwood, Tenn., Brentwood) got the Tigers on the board first when he connected with a short jumper early on. Nelson's basket gave Sewanee a quick 2-0 lead, but the Gorloks wasted no time turning it into a tight contest. Willie Trimble knocked down a 3-pointer a minute later to give the Gorloks a 2-3 lead before a pair of free throws by Robby Meeh stretched their lead to three. Moments later, Sewanee freshman Valentino Bryant (Hendersonville, Tenn., Beech) nailed a three of his own to tie things up at five.

 

After Bryant's three, the Tigers went on a 6-2 spurt to go ahead 11-7 behind another trey from Bryant and a three-point play from Nelson. Nelson connected on a driving lay up but was fouled hard on the play by Jarrod Huskey to earn a free throw. He connected to extend the Tiger lead but Webster followed with back-to-back 3-pointers, one from Trimble and one from Nick Jones to retake the lead, 11-13.

 

The Gorloks quickly turned their lead into an eight-point difference with an 8-3 run highlighted by a three from the corner by Cody Bradfisch. Nelson knocked down a short jumper to cut the lead to six, but Bradfisch responded with a basket of his own to push it to 16-24. After Sewanee's Matt Cowan (Goodlettsville, Tenn., Beech) connected on a pair of free throws, the Gorloks scored four straight points on a jumper by Huskey and two free throws by Trimble, giving the visitors their largest lead of the half, 18-28.

 

Following Trimble's free throws, the Tigers slowly started to chip at the 10-point margin. Nelson, who had 11 points in the first half, nailed a short turnaround jumper and Cowan, who was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer, knocked down two of three from the charity stripe to make it 22-28 Webster. On the ensuing possession, Cowan fouled Meeh as he drove towards the basket but Meeh only hit one of his two free throws, making it 22-29. Nelson cut the Gorlok lead to five with a basket and sophomore Brett Bouldin (Crossville, Ala., Crossville) knocked down a huge trey for the Tigers to make it 29-31 Webster with just over four minutes remaining in the first half.

 

Webster responded to Bouldin's three with a lay up from Alec Kuhl before Bryant connected on a lay up to cut the Gorlok lead to two again. Jones missed a jumper for the visitors before Bryant tried a 3-pointer at the other end of the court. He missed and Webster's Meeh pulled down the rebound but Sam Martin (Ringgold, Ga., Lakeview-Ft. Oglethorpe) came up big for the Tigers. As Meeh came down with the ball under the Sewanee basket, Martin swiped it from him, turned around and connected to tie the game at 31-31 with just over two minutes left in the half. The Tigers took a brief lead when Bryant, who poured in ten points in the first stanza, scored to put Sewanee up 33-31 before Jones connected for the Gorloks to even things at 33-all heading into the locker room.

The two teams traded baskets to open up the second period before Webster stretched things out to a five-point Gorlok lead behind a three-point play by Trimble. Sewanee cut the difference to 41-42 after Martin laid down a basket on an alley oop pass from Lewis Affronti (Virginia Beach, Va., Norfolk Academy) and Nelson connected on a short jumper. The Tigers evened the score at 46-46 just moments later when Bryant poured in five straight points to tie things up for the sixth time in the contest.

 

Webster went ahead by as many as five, 46-51, with just under eight minutes left before Sewanee picked up 3-pointer from Marelle and a basket by Cowan. The two squads traded baskets before Webster opened up a six-point lead behind field goals from Kuhl and Jones and a pair of free throws from Cody Bradfisch, who was fouled by Nelson with just 45 seconds left to play. After he connected with both of his free throws, giving Webster a 53-59 lead, Jarrod Huskey fouled Marelle as Marelle took the ball up the court. Marelle missed his free throw, but after getting the rebound back, he connected on a crucial three from the corner to make it 56-59 Webster with just 39 seconds remaining.

 

After a Tiger timeout, Trent Williams (Lawrenceburg, Tenn., Lawrence County High School) forced a turnover by the Gorloks before Sewanee took another timeout. Coming out of the break, the Tigers attempted a three but missed before Trimble pulled down the rebound for Webster. Marelle fouled Trimble but he missed the front end of the one-and-one. In the rush for the rebound, Huskey fouled Affronti with just two seconds left. Affronti knocked down his first free throw but missed the second, closing the gap to 57-59 with just two seconds left on the clock. Nelson fouled Trimble as he went for the rebound, but Trimble failed to connect on his one-and-one again, giving the Tigers one last chance. With less than two ticks left on the clock, Marelle pulled down the missed free throw and heaved the ball to the other end of the floor. His shot grazed the bottom of the net, but fell just short, giving the Gorloks their second triumph over the Tigers this season, 57-59.

 

Bryant led all scorers with 17 points in the effort on 7 of 14 shooting. Nelson also went 7 of 14 from the field while picking up 15 points and six rebounds. Trimble led the Gorloks with 15 points and Jones added 10. Scott Restoff recorded 14 boards for the visitors and Meeh added 10 as Webster out-rebounded Sewanee 46-27. Bryant also tallied six assists and four steals in the contest, while Affronti added three assists of his own and Cowan chipped in three steals.

 

As a team, Sewanee went 21 of 59 from the floor in the game, including shooting just 22.2% from beyond the 3-point line. Webster shot 44.9% from the field in the game after going 10 of 21 in the second half. They attempted considerably less 3-pointers than the Tigers, knocking down five of 11 on the night.

 

Sewanee falls to 4-3 on the year while Webster moves to 4-4. The Tigers will be back in action on Sunday when they host Berry College in the final game of the Lon Varnell Classic at 1 p.m.