It may already be February, and the season may be winding down, but the Billikens did something for the first time this season on Tuesday night. They won on the road.
The Billikens went into Freedom Hall to face the Louisville Cardinals at what might have been SLU’s lowest point in the season. The walked out with a 67-64 victory and a tiny glimmer of hope for a postseason appearance.
Leading the way for the Billikens was point guard Marque Perry, who scored 20 points and easily had his best game since returning from a concussion two weeks ago. It was SLU’s first win in their last five games and only its second win in eight tries.
Reece Gaines had a career night for the Cardinals, finishing with 37 points on 14 of 23 shooting, including six baskets from beyond the arc. Fortunately for the Billikens, Gaines was the only Cardinal that really showed up to play. He went 9-16 in the second half, the rest of the Cardinals team combined to go only 2-12. Gaines’ 37 points were the most from a Louisville player in over 34 years, however, it may be the last two shots he’ll remember most. He had two separate chances to tie the game with a three-point shot, but missed on both tries.
“Reece was spectacular. He just took some bad shots at the end of the game,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. “But he had to because his teammates weren’t playing at the level he was playing.”
SLU shot 52 percent in the first half and jumped out to a 34-30 lead. Drew Diener’s three-pointer gave them a 46-37 lead with just over 14 minutes left, but they went without a field goal for the next seven minutes. During the Billiken drought, Gaines reeled off 12 consecutive points and Louisville suddenly had a five-point lead.
`’I think we had some people ease up right there,” Gaines said. `’But Saint Louis kept coming at us.”
This was something Billiken coach Lorenzo Romar has seen before. The Billikens have gone through similar scoring droughts during their losing streak.
“We’ve had problems with these droughts, and they coincide with poor defense,” Romar said. “It’s not just a drought offensively. All of a sudden we can’t stop people. Gaines gave them a major lift. But we didn’t get rattled and stuck with the game plan.”
The Billikens did not get rattled and came right back at the Cardinals. They battled back and kept within striking distance for the next four minutes. After two free throws by Louisville forward Ellis Myles at 7:52, Kenny Brown converted on a three-point play and Perry nailed two free throws to tie the game.
A Gaines 3-pointer put Louisville up 63-60 with 3:17 left in the game. But once again the Billikens came back. Two more free throws by Perry and another by Brown tied the game back up. Following a Cardinals turnover, Brown picked up a loose ball and laid it in to give SLU a two-point advantage.
After Gains put down only one of two free throws, giving SLU the ball back. After a timeout, Perry took control of the ball and slashed into the lane. He passed the ball to Chris Sloan who found Brown open under the basket. Brown laid the ball in, giving the Billikens a 67-64 lead with 23 seconds left. Pitino was not happy with his team’s defense on the final Billiken basket.
“We were supposed to foul him,” Pitino said. “We should have knocked him down instead of giving him a lay-up.”
After Gaines missed a three-pointer, the Cardinals did foul Brown, who only needed to make one free throw to ice the game for SLU, but missed them both, giving Louisville one final chance to tie the game. However, a long, forced shot in the closing seconds was off the mark and SLU celebrated its third straight win over the Cardinals.
It was Perry who kept the Billikens in the game, not only with his scoring offense, but with the way he controlled the tempo of the game. It seemed that he could beat his defender every time in order to get in the lane. The only thing Louisville could do to stop him was foul him. Perry finished the game shooting 13 free throws, making 10 of them.
“We came out and ran the offense pretty well, and it opened it up for everyone on the team,” Perry said. “I knew if I penetrated, someone would step up. So I was dishing it and we either made a basket or they fouled me.”
The Billikens were coming off a loss to the East Carolina Pirates on Saturday. SLU controlled the game early and carried a 36-30 lead into halftime, but broke down in the second half and shot only 35 percent, including 2-15 on three-point attempts.
Kenyatta Brown scored 19 points to lead East Carolina, which had won only a single conference game before beating SLU. The Pirates shot 53 percent for the game, including seven baskets from beyond the three-point arc. They also made 18 free throws, while SLU attempted only 11. The Billikens will try to keep on winning this Saturday as they face Charlotte at noon in the Savvis Center.
