Just when things started to look good, it got ugly. Real ugly.
The St. Louis University men’s basketball squad suffered a 71-48 whopping at the hands of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss., last night. In their most lopsided defeat of the year, the Billikens NCAA Tournament hopes were dealt a devastating blow.
“This was a very tough night for us. They took it to us. There’s not much I can say about it,” said SLU coach Lorenzo Romar on the KMOX post-game show.
Having won five of their last six contests, the Billikens appeared to be on a roll. Last night, however, they hit a brick wall. They showed a faint pulse as they succumbed to the shocking start-to-finish domination of the Golden Eagles.
Southern Miss silenced SLU early, as they jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the first three minutes. Maurice Jeffers finally scored SLU’s first two points, but the Billikens miscues never subsided.
After a Chris Heinrich travel with 15:57 to go, the Bills scored only once in their next seven possessions. Following a Dave Fergerson miss and a John Redden travel, Justin Love turned the ball over.
With 10:58 remaining, the Golden Eagles already led 27-6. They opened the game by shooting 11 of 12 from the field and two of two from three-point range.
Meanwhile, nothing seemed to be going SLU’s way. Love, an 84 percent free-throw shooter, missed both attempts from the line in the first half and finished two for six from the stripe.
Heinrich also missed two free-throws and the Bills closed the first half by going scoreless in their final six possessions.
The Billikens went into the locker room trailing 42-17.
SLU began the second half with newfound enthusiasm as Love hit from beyond the arc and Marque Perry converted a three-point play. Chris Braun connected for two and Heinrich took a charge.
With 12:00 remaining, SLU had gone on a 16-5 run that cut the lead to 47-33.
That was their last gasp of air, however, as the Golden Eagles suffocated SLU’s revival. The Bills couldn’t dig themselves out of their first half hole as Southern Miss ran away with the victory.
The Bills shot 37 percent from the field and only 54 percent from the free-throw line. They committed 20 turnovers due to the Golden Eagles’ tenacious man-to-man defense.
“I’ve never been one to say that it’s over. It was a very bad loss, but we’ll bounce back. I guarantee we’ll bounce back,” Romar said.
Love paced SLU with 15 points. Fergerson added eight points. The SLU big men were ineffective in the game. Baniak scored six points, but had eight rebounds; Heinrich tallied one point and three boards; and Justin Tatum had zero points and zero rebounds.
Their next game against Tulane on Saturday at 1 p.m. is crucial. Not only is it a big game with post-season implications, but it will have a huge impact on Conference USA standings.
Currently, SLU is in a tie for third place in the American Division with Louisville. Both teams are one-half game behind DePaul.
On Saturday, the Bills toppled Houston 82-70. SLU benefited from 11 three-pointers to take the game.
Love knocked down 25 points while Braun added 10 points for his second consecutive double-digit scoring game.
