NORTH MIAMI, Fla. (January 4, 2020) – The Webber International University men's basketball team started off the spring portion of its 2019-20 season with a disappointing loss against Johnson & Wales University, falling by a final score of 83-73 on Saturday inside the Wildcat Center.
For Webber (8-8 overall, 2-4 The Sun Conference), it was the end of a four-game winning streak to close 2019 and was the Warriors' first loss on the road in Sun Conference play this season. For Johnson & Wales (5-8, 1-4), it was the Wildcats' first TSC win of the season.
It was the second time in the last two seasons that Webber has lost on the road against a Johnson & Wales team that was without a conference victory.
This time around, the Warriors allowed the Wildcats to sink 17 3-pointers on 44.7 percent shooting from three and 49.1 percent shooting from the field overall, and it was very similar to the previous meeting between the two teams in North Miami, Florida, last season. During Webber's 95-79 loss at JWU last year on January 12, 2019, the Wildcats hit 15 3-pointers on 41.7 percent shooting from three and 48.6 percent shooting from the field.
For the Warrior offense,
Ariel Watson led the way with 18 points on four 3-pointers.
Rasheem Etienne added 11 points;
Tommie Luke had 11 points and six rebounds;
Chetachukwu Oliver had 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting to go along with five rebounds;
Javonni Quince had eight points; and
Malik Morrow had five points and a team-high eight boards.
The Warriors only led twice in this one, first by a score of 6-0 on an and-one by Luke and three free throws by Watson on Webber's first two possessions of the game before JWU quickly answered with three straight 3-pointers to take the lead.
Webber's second and final lead came on a score by Morrow to make it 10-9 four minutes in.
Webber then trailed 25-10 after the Wildcats sank seven 3-pointers in the first seven and a half minutes of the game. The 16-0 run for JWU was finally stopped eight minutes in on a pair of free throws by Etienne.
Later on in the first half, Webber used a big 14-2 run to battle all the way back to within one at 34-33 with just under two minutes left before halftime.
In the second half, Webber never led but stayed within single digits until JWU stretched its lead to 10 at 61-51 with nine minutes left and then to 12 at 66-54 with just under eight minutes left to play.
Webber then could not get back to within nine until with under three minutes left when Watson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Quince added two free throws to make it 74-70 with two and a half minutes to go.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats answered with four quick free throws to go back up by eight points and then went back up by double digits yet again on their last 3-pointer of the game to make the score 81-71 with only a minute left.
Before beginning a stretch of 12 straight conference games to wrap up the regular season, Webber's next game will be its first home game of 2020 as the Warriors host Welch College in nonconference action at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, January 5.
