Defense has been the strength of Saint Louis University men’s basketball for the past two years. But for the past two games, it has been the Billikens’ Achilles’ heel.

For the second straight game, the Billikens allowed their opponents to shoot over 50 percent from the field, as they lost to the DePaul Blue Demons 86-68 last night at the Savvis Center.

DePaul shot 55 percent from the field and 80 percent from behind the three-point line to grab its second Conference USA victory. Both victories have come against SLU.

“If you shoot 80 percent of your three pointers with a guy next to you, you are doing a good job. They were on tonight,” said Billiken coach Lorenzo Romar.

The outside shooting of Joe Tulley and Bobby Simmons along with the dominating inside play of 7’0″ center Steve Hunter and his wide array of highlight reel dunks accounted for 65 of the Blue Demons’ 86 points.

Not only was the Blue Demon offense potent; their defense was stifling. The Billikens shot a mere 42 percent from the field despite strong offensive performances from seniors Maurice Jeffers and Chris Heinrich, who scored 18 and 17 points, respectively.

Despite their shooting woes, the Bills trailed only 38-37 at half. But the game quickly slipped out of SLU’s grasp midway through the second half. The Demons jumped out on an 8-0 run with nine minutes remaining. The Billikens found themselves down 53-65. DePaul never looked back and ran away with a convincing victory.

“These last few games it seems like we have had lighter concentration. We didn’t come out to win in the second half. Our intensity has been low lately. We have to come closer together. We have to find our intensity again,” said senior forward Justin Tatum.

Romar credited Hunter as the key to the Blue Demons’ victory. The big man’s game leading six blocked shots completely prevented the Bills from executing their inside game.

“I am almost speechless,” said Romar. “We thought we were prepared, but we weren’t. We don’t have any excuses. They did what they had to do. Hunter had a great game. They all banded together.”

Nothing could have prepared the Billikens for the play of Tulley, who came into the game averaging a modest 4.6 points per game. The red-hot shooting sophomore lit up SLU defenders for a game high 23 points including three 3-point buckets.

“I came out here tonight and wanted to do whatever I could to get the guys going.

“I just wanted to help out the team. I just did what I knew I could do. I was tired of losing, so I stepped up my game,” said Tulley.

The Blue Demons were constantly overpowering the Billikens on the offensive and defensive boards as DePaul out-rebounded SLU, 38-26. Freshman forward Andre Brown led all players with nine rebounds for the Blue Demons. He also added 16 points.

Last night’s loss marks SLU’s third straight home loss to DePaul. The Billikens fell victim to the Blue Demons earlier in the season in a 68-43 drubbing in Chicago on December 19.

The Bills have now lost three of their last four games as their record drops to 11-9 and 3-4 in the Conference.

The slumping Bills will try to get back on the winning track as they hit the road to play the Louisville Cardinals (8-13) at Freedom Hall this Saturday at 1 p.m. Louisville is led by Conference-USA player of the week Marques Maybin. The 6’3″ senior guard is averaging 19 points per game for the 8-13 Cardinals.