CARLINVILLE, IL – The Blackburn College Men's Basketball team honored seniors Izayah Talmadge and Zach Kelsey prior to the matchup with Greenville University in a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup to conclude the regular season, but fell to the Panthers 101-98. 

The senior duo led the Blackburn offense as Talmadge posted a team-high 23 points while Kelsey added 20. The pair also tied for the team's lead with nine rebounds each. Sophomores Cameron Johnson and Darius Duff notched 16 points each. Brody Barr contributed 11 points. 

In a fast-paced game, the teams saw a 21-21 tie with nine minutes left on the clock in the first half. The Panthers then rallied out to a 36-26 lead, but Blackburn answered and soon made it 36-33. However, Greenville responded with another run and went into halftime leading 48-40. 

In the second half, Blackburn came out ready to play and soon took a 54-52 lead off a Talmadge layup just 3:30 in. The guests responded and would soon take a 69-61 advantage with a little over 11 minutes left in the game but Blackburn fought back and re-captured the lead off a Johnson three, making it 75-73 with nine minutes to go. After seeing a tied 77-77 score a minute later, Johnson and Talmadge hit threes before Kelsey made a layup and Johnson hit another three to answer a Greenville score to push BC out 88-79 with six minutes left. 

With 3:50 to go, Greenville took a 91-90 lead but Talmadge responded by hitting three free throws. After the score was tied again at 93-93, Johnson followed a GC three with his fourth of the game to tie it again at 96-96 at the 2:18 mark. Talmadge hit two more free throws in response to Panther scores but the score was 101-98 with 11 seconds left. Unfortunately, Talmadge's three at the buzzer was unsuccessful, giving Greenville the win. 

Despite the loss, Blackburn will now turn their attention to the SLIAC Conference Tournament where they will visit Webster University Tuesday evening.