The red hot Beavers keep climbing the conference standings as they strive for their first playoff berth since 2005-06.  Tonight they faced a huge matchup against Westminster College (9-13, 9-6 SLIAC) who is currently one game ahead of them.  Back on January 9th, the Beavers lost on the road to the Blue Jays 84-73.  Desperately needing a win to further their playoff hopes, Blackburn was hungry for the rematch. 

It was a late tip off with the game being pushed back an hour and a half due to weather related issues.  But this showed no effect on the Beavers, who fired out of the gates with an 8-0 run.  From that point on the Beavers never looked back and proceeded to dismantle the Blue Jays. 

The Beavers shut down Westminster defensively, who had a miserable first half offensively.  Blackburn held the Jays to 38 percent from the field (12-31) and 27 percent from beyond the arc (3-11).  They also forced eight first half turnovers in route to 38-28 lead entering halftime.

Riding the momentum from the first half, the Beavers came out for the second firing on all cylinders.  One quick 10-3 run later and Blackburn had blown the game wide open with a 48-31 lead.  The Beavers then extended their lead to an astounding 30 points powered by good perimeter shooting. This was highlighted by a near half court three with the shot clock winding down by sophomore Jordan McMillen.

Blackburn never lost the lead once on their way to a blowout victory 79-54.

Chris Davis led all players with 16 points while adding six rebounds.  Willie Orange and Jake Maestranzi each added 12 points, while Jaime Moore had a game-high 10 rebounds.

With that victory, the Beavers now climb into a three-way tie for fourth place with Spalding and Webster.  Blackburn owns the tie breaker over both teams after sweeping Webster this season while also winning the first meeting against Spalding. 

Next Saturday Blackburn travels to Iowa Wesleyan, whom the Beavers lost to by one point earlier this season.