After Georgia Tech thumped SLU 60-40, coach Lorenzo Romar worried about the effect the game would have on the rest of the season. The Billikens waylaid any fears when they topped the UAB Blazers 53-47 Tuesday night.
“It was a tough weekend for us,” said Romar. “You worry that sometimes you’ll put your tail between your legs and not show up the rest of the season. It was a good sign to see us come out and compete.”
SLU battled through a gutsy, physical UAB team.
Both teams struggled to score early on, and the contest was close and low-scoring at the half, with SLU leading 22-17.
Junior guard Marque Perry led SLU with 10 points, the only Billiken in double-figures in the first half. SLU shot 48 percent from the field and forced UAB to commit 10 turnovers.
SLU pulled away in the opening minutes of the second half and held a 40-30 lead with nine minutes left in the game.
UAB went on an 8-2 run to close the gap. The Blazers eventually tied the tilt at 44.
Perry led SLU with 17 points, and backcourt partner Josh Fisher went for 10 points.
“I got a couple of open shots that went down for me,” Fisher said. “When the shots went down, my confidence went up.”
The Billikens shot 46 percent from the field and forced 15 turnovers. The most telling stat was SLU’s proficiency at the free throw line, shooting 15-21.
“Without that, we don’t win the game,” Romar said.
SLU hit its free throws at the end of the game, led by Perry hitting 5-6 at the charity stripe. The Billikens pulled out a 53-47 win.
“I’m pleased with the victory. We did a good job defensively. We understood what we needed to do to win. They made a run and we showed tremendous poise defensively,” Romar said.
Last Saturday, SLU celebrated National SLU Day as the Billikens took on Georgia Tech in front of a nationally televised audience. After the tip-off, however, the celebration ended.
Georgia Tech held SLU to a season-low 13 first half points as the Yellow Jackets defeated the Bills 60-40 at Savvis Center.
The loss was SLU’s worst at home this season and second lowest offensive output of the year.
“Obviously, it was a very disappointing game for us,” Romar said. “We played competitively earlier in the week at Cincinnati and played two good ballgames before that against Louisville and Charlotte. We felt we were hitting our stride, and to play this way is very disheartening.”
The game marked the second meeting of the year between the two teams. SLU (12-15, 6-7) had defeated Georgia Tech (11-15, 3-9) 67-54 in late November at the Las Vegas Invitational.
Since then, Tech has improved by facing a grueling Atlantic Coast Conference schedule, including Maryland and Duke. On Saturday, it showed.
After Jason Edwin’s three-pointer in the first 30 seconds, SLU went scoreless for nearly 10 minutes. Finally, Chris Braun made one of two free throws at the 9:44 mark to cut Georgia Tech’s lead to 10-4.
The free throw, however, hardly sparked the Billikens. Georgia Tech held SLU to 19 percent shooting from the field in the first-half on 4-21 shooting.
In addition, SLU shot 3-12 from behind the arc, and committed 11 turnovers. Edwin had 10 of SLU’s 13 points.
“It was really frustrating,” said Perry. “We were out of sync and we did a poor job-offensively and defensively. We didn’t do a good job executing our offense or knocking down shots. At the defensive end, we gave up way too many offensive rebounds.”
SLU went down 25-13 at halftime. The second 20 minutes didn’t get much better.
SLU could pull no closer than 34-22 after a Perry jumper with 11 minutes left.
For the game, Yellow Jackets out-rebounded SLU 41-30, held the Billikens to 31 percent shooting, and pressured Romar’s squad into committing 18 turnovers.
“I don’t think we had good practices,” Romar said. “I hope we haven’t hit a wall. But we’ll bounce back.”
The Billikens return to action in their final home game this Friday against Louisville at 8 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN. The Cardinals lead the series 42-18, but SLU has won the past three games and four of the last five.
SLU won this season’s first game 67-64 at Freedom Hall. Perry had 20 points in leading SLU’s offensive attack.
