The Saint Louis University men’s basketball team has a problem: they can’t win in Cincinnati. In a season riddled with second half collapses, the Billikens lost a halftime lead and lost to the Cincinnati Bearcats, 68-61. This put their all-time record at “The Shoe” to 0-9.
“We came up a little short tonight,” coach Lorenzo Romar said on the KMOX post-game show.
The Billikens started the game strong on a three by freshman forward Jason Edwin. From that point on, the two teams traded baskets for the next five minutes. When the two teams finished scorching the nets, the Bills had the lead, 19-16.
An unexpected source got into the shooting action. Senior forward Justin Tatum took the team on his shoulders as he scored eight of SLU’s next 10 points, pushing the lead to 31-26.
Tatum continued his hot hand on a freak play. Senior center Chris Heinrich mishandled a pass from sophomore point guard Marque Perry and dove to the floor to retrieve the ball.
As he grabbed the ball he flipped it under the basket and senior Maurice Jeffers dove out of bounds to save the ball. As he fell into the camera equipment, Jeffers threw the ball to Tatum under the basket. Tatum went right up and was fouled as the ball dropped through the hoop.
The Bearcats stayed close throughout the half and went on a 7-2 run before they went into the locker room trailing the Bills, 38-35.
The Bills dominated in the paint the first half, scoring 18 to the Bearcats two. Leading the way was Tatum with 11 points and Heinrich with six boards.
The second half opened up with senior Matt Baniak scoring four points and pushing the Billikens lead to 44-36.
Cincy continued to stay close and wouldn’t allow the Billiken lead to reach more than three. At the eight minute mark the Bearcats tied the game at 49 on a three by sophomore point guard Kenny Satterfield. SLU turned the ball over on the next possession and Cincy took advantage as they took their first lead since early in the contest, 51-49.
After a SLU time out\, Perry answered with an incredible layup as the shot clock was about to expire and he was fouled. Perry converted the free throw, giving the Billikens the lead 53-52.
The Bearcats took the lead back on the next possession and didn’t look back as they beat the Billikens for the tenth consecutive time in Cincinnati, 68-61.
A large part of their victory was their ability to get to the free throw stripe. The Bearcats attempted 40 free throws and converted on 28. The Billikens only went to the line 14 times, knocking down 10.
After a terrible showing Monday against the University of Houston in which SLU lost a five-point half time lead and the game, 71-51, Romar was impressed with the Billikens last night.
“If there’s any consolation, we talked about a total-team effort tonight,” Romar said. “It’s not the outcome, it’s the effort.”
The Billikens received a team effort as Tatum, Perry and Baniak scored 13 points each. Jeffers chimed in with eight points and five boards.
“These guys like each other. We weren’t pleased with the effort against Houston. Our guys played pretty good tonight,” Romar said.
“We’re not content with a loss, but I thought we made progress,” Romar said.
If the Billikens hope to make a post-season push they’ll need to make a lot of progress fast. Next up for the Billikens will be the Charlotte 49ers this Sunday at the Savvis Center at 6:00 p.m.
The 49ers have their own plans as they continue to play for the regular season Conference USA championship.
“They’re playing much better,” Romar said. “They’re going to put forth a lot of effort: it should be a lot of fun.”
The 49ers are led by freshman forward Rodney White. White has been averaging 19.7 points per game and has been predicted as a lottery pick in the NBA draft this summer. .
The Billikens defeated the 49ers in Charlotte earlier this season, 69-56. The 49ers were without White for that contest.
