If the first two exhibitions are any indication of how the upcoming season will be, offense will not be a problem for the Saint Louis University men’s basketball team.
After making the Northwest All-Stars look like an eighth grade team in a 103-55 thrashing, the Billikens broke the century mark again in a 103-93 win over Team Georgia.
But more work needs to be done before the season begins on Nov. 19.
“This was a good team to play,” said coach Lorenzo Romar. “It gave us a good idea of where our weaknesses are.”
The Billikens scored early and often against the Trojans and were able to hold onto the lead in the final minutes. Junior forward Kenny Brown got SLU on the board 16 seconds into the game off a bounce pass from sophomore Chris Sloan.
The Trojans stayed with SLU early and the game was tied at five three minutes into the contest. Sophomore forward Ross Varner gave the Billikens a 7-5 lead. Junior guard Marque Perry threw a lob pass into Varner in the low post. Varner spun and sealed his defender and hit the short shot.
SLU began to pull away from the Trojans eight minutes into the first half. Sophomore Jason Edwin hit his second shot of the game after the Billikens moved the ball quickly around the perimeter. Edwin’s three gave SLU a 12-9 lead.
Edwin scored eight straight points and helped give the Billikens a 23-11 lead with just over nine minutes left in the half.
A pair of free throws from Perry gave the Bills a 30-18 lead, the largest margin in the half. The Trojans were not about to retreat from the challenge and systematically cut SLU’s lead to 32-29 near the end of the half.
SLU went on a final run before the half and rebuilt its double-digit lead, up 50-40 at halftime.
The Billikens offensive stats in the half were impressive. They shot nearly 52 percent from the floor and hit 50 percent of their attempts from behind the arc. Jason Edwin led SLU’s attack in the half, netting 15 points in 11 minutes.
The Trojans roared back after the half and were in the game until the end. Team Georgia scored five quick points after the intermission and cut the lead to five points.
In the next few minutes, the Billikens were able to convert on second-chance opportunities and held onto the lead. After a jumper on the baseline from Edwin, SLU led 60-51.
Then the Trojans did something that they hadn’t been able to do up to that point: they hit their threes. After going 2 of 7 from behind the arc in the first half, Team Georgia shot 8 of14 from three in the second half.
With nine minutes left in the game, John Nelson’s three cut SLU’s lead to 75-69. Junior guard Drew Diener answered with a three of his own, giving the Billikens a nine-point lead.
SLU weathered the storm and again rebuilt a double-digit lead. Brown made a strong move through his defender and to the hoop to give the Billikens an 85-71 lead. The Billikens lead never dropped below nine points in the final five minutes and SLU continued to exploit its offensive advantage and won 103-93.
SLU shot even better in the second half, hitting 63 percent of their shots from the floor. The Billikens ended up shooting 57 percent from the floor on the game and 59 percent from behind the arc.
Five Billikens tallied double-digits in scoring. Perry, who scored 15 points in the second half, finished the game leading the Billikens with 17 points. Edwin also poured in 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting. Junior forward Chris Braun scored 14 points on a balance of hoops from the post and a series of jumpers. Sloan scored 11 points and grabbed a team-high eight boards. Junior guard Josh Fisher netted 10 point off the bench.
Despite the offensive display in the first two games, Romar still has goals for the Billikens to meet before the first game.
“If we’re going to be successful this year, we need to do a much better job guarding,” Romar said. “In the past, we’ve played teams with better fire power than what we played today and we did a much better job. The next nine days, we’ll be looking for some answers defensively. We’re not where we want to be defensively.”
Even though the offense has clicked early, Romar doesn’t want the Billikens to assume that it will always be there.
“I don’t know how many we’ll score throughout the year,” Romar said. “There may be nights where we only score 50 points. We need to play better defensively. So far, we’ve had more people put the ball in the basket. Jason Edwin showed he was a three-point threat last year when he shot 50 percent. Marque Perry has worked hard shooting the three. Chris Braun and Ross Varner can both shoot the three.”
Romar is optimistic as the Billikens near their first game.
“With nine days, I think we can fix what we need to on defense,” Romar said.
