Blackburn Captures 82-75 Victory over Westminster

CARLINVILLE, IL -- Blackburn College Men's Basketball featured five players in double figures to help the Beavers defeat Westminster College 82-75 in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon. 

Pacing the team was freshman Odis Grissom who led the team with 16 points. Sophomore Cayden Paquette added 14 while senior Izayah Talmadge chipped in with nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Senior Zach Kelsey notched 12 points and sophomore Darius Duff tallied 10 points along with four assists and three steals. 

The Beavers jumped out to an 8-2 lead early behind baskets from Paquette, sophomore Tyson Johnson, Duff and Kelsey. The Blue Jays responded and the game eventually was tied 21-21 with just under 10 minutes left in the half. At this point, the hosts rallied and closed out the half on a 20-11 run to take a 41-32 lead into halftime. 

In the second half,  a Talmadge dunk at the 17:11 mark helped give the Beavers a 49-34 lead. Five minutes later, Grissom hit a layup which help give the Beavers their largest lead of the game 62-43. The Blue Jays then rallied and eventually made the game 72-70 with 4:09 left to play. 

Paquette and Grissom stopped the rally with back to back threes which proved to much for the Blue Jays to overcome as BC took the 82-75 victory. 

With the win, Blackburn improves to 3-5 on the season and 2-1 in SLIAC play while Westminster falls to 1-8 overall, 1-2 in league. The Beavers continue SLIAC play on Wednesday by hitting the road to visit Eureka College. BC defeated Eureka 73-62 on December 2nd.