Men's Basketball Falls in Heartbreaker

CARLINVILLE, IL – Blackburn College rallied from an eight-point deficit late in the second half to take a 71-70 lead, but Principia College managed to hit a late jumper to help the Panthers defeat Blackburn 72-71 in Saturday's St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup. 

Leading the Beavers was senior Izayah Talmadge with 19 points and seven rebounds. Odis Grissom chipped in with 17 points while sophomore Darius Duff added 11 points and sophomore Tyson Johnson had 10. 

Sophomore Cayden Paquette opened the game with a layup followed by a Duff three. After Principia closed the game, Talmadge scored five straight points to give Blackburn a 10-4 lead four minutes in. The Panthers tied the game at 12-12 before a three from sophomore Cameron Johnson made it 19-14 with 12:29 to go in the first half. 

Duff managed to hit back to back layups to extend Blackburn to a 29-22 lead at the six minute mark. However, the guests rallied back to make it 29-29 with four minutes remaining, but Cameron Johnson and Grissom both scored and moved the Beavers to a 33-29 advantage. Talmadge made free throws between a Panther layup and free throw and Blackburn took a 35-32 lead into the halftime break. 

The Beavers push ahead 41-34 just over two minutes into the second half behind two Talmadge layups and a Duff basket. Principia answered to make it 43-42 but Grissom and Talmadge stopped the rally with a layup each. The teams would then trade baskets over the next several minutes until the visitors were able to take a 53-52 lead with 11 minutes to go in the game. 

Principia was able to extend their lead out to 63-55 with seven minutes. As the game continued, Grissom hit an old-fashioned three-pointer, Tyson Johnson hit a three followed by Talmadge making a layup and two free throws. Paquette then hit a three with 1:56 to go and made the score 70-68. 

With 33 seconds to go, Grissom converted an add-one to give Blackburn back the lead, 71-70. However, Principia's Jaquan Adams managed to hit a short jumper with 22 seconds left which proved the difference, giving the Panthers a 72-71 victory. 

Blackburn falls to 4-4 in the SLIAC, 5-10 overall and will return to action Wednesday as they host SLIAC rival Fontbonne University.