ST. LOUIS - A 22-9 run during an eight-minute span gave the Fontbonne Griffins the cushion they needed to defeat the Westminster Blue Jays 88-75 on Tuesday in the first round of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.
The No. 6 seed Blue Jays trailed 19-9 about seven minutes into the game, but a Makygh Galbreath steal led to a Jaxon Althaus layup to make the margin two at 21-19 with 9:40 left in the first half.
The No. 3 seed Griffins took over from there. Noah Goddington scored the next four points, Elijah Rice made a shot at the 4:14 mark to make the score 36-26 and Anthony Jones added a 3 at the 1:12 mark to make the score 43-28.
Fontbonne led 43-30 at halftime.
Althaus scored 12 points for Westminster, which ends its season at 2-7.
Braeden Wetrich contributed 11 points and five rebounds, Landon Harrison had 10 points and eight rebounds, and Brennan Jeffries added 10 points.
Fontbonne (5-6) advances to play No. 2 seed Greenville at 7 p.m. Thursday in the tournament semifinals.