The Bears will take on the loser of Illinois College or Principia College in the consolation championship on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Washington University (3-3) set a school-record with 16 three-pointers in the loss. The Bears hit 10 three-pointers in the second half, including eight in the final 2:27. WU broke the record of 15, which was set three times, last in 1995 against Hamilton College.
After Benedictine scored the opening bucket of the game, the Bears built an early lead with a 10-2 run, highlighted by a deep three-pointer from senior Rob Keller. WU continued its hot three-point shooting as sophomore Brandon York, junior Mike Grunst and junior Calvin Williams connected on three consecutive three-pointers to give the Bears the 27-18 lead with 10:10 remaining in the first half.
With Washington U. leading 33-21, Keller scored eight of the Bears next 10 points to give the Bears its largest lead at 43-23. The Bears led 45-29 after a lay-up by Grunst with 1:03 left, but Zach Ramey of Benedictine hit a three-pointer and then Brice Amelianovich drained a three from the corner at the buzzer to cut the lead to 45-35.
Keller led the Bears with 13 first half points while Grunst had 11. Nine Bears scored in the first half as Washington University shot 50 percent (18-of-36) from the field and 60 percent (6-of-10) from three-point range.
The Eagles extended their run to 19-5 as Benedictine scored nine of the half’s first 12 points to cut the lead to 48-44. York drained his second three-pointer of the game to put the Bears up 63-58, but Marcus Jackson scored three consecutive buckets to give Benedictine their first lead at 64-63 with 9:34 remaining.
Benedictine (4-1) took its largest lead of the game at 86-72 with 1:48 left before WU mounted a comeback. The Bears connected on eight three-pointers, including four by junior Scott Stone to trim the lead to 95-90, but the Eagles sealed the win at the free-throw line. Benedictine scored its final 18 points of the game at the charity stripe.
Keller finished the game with a career-high 26 points while Grunst had a career-high 19 points. York added 13 and Stone had 12 in the loss.
Matt Harrison of Benedictine led all scorers with 34 points, including 26 in the second half. Ramey also added 24 points in the victory for the Eagles.