This could be the start of a beautiful season.
Friday night, the Saint Louis University men’s basketball team took to the floor in the first exhibition game of the season, downing the EA Sports All-Stars 75-58.
The Billikens were led by senior guards Drew Diener and Marque Perry, who tallied 18 and 16 points, respectively. Junior guard Josh Fisher showed promising offensive ability, adding eight points and 12 assists.
“I’ll rest a lot easier this weekend after Josh’s performance, because I wasn’t sure who our lead guard was going to be,” said coach Brad Soderberg. “Josh made a statement about that tonight. (His 12 assists) show that he’s not trying to be fancy, he’s just trying to get the ball to an open player.
The All-Stars took advantage of the Billikens’ slow start, scoring on their first two shots of the game. But Diener netted a three-point field goal to put the Bills on the board and narrow the All-Stars’ lead to a single point.
After Diener’s first trey, the Billikens jumped ahead and continued to pad their lead over the All-Stars throughout the half. In addition to the offensive efforts from the guards, junior forward Chris Sloan stepped up on the perimeter and scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half.
“There were several opportunities for Ross Varner and Chris Sloan to get open jumpers,” Soderberg said. “I’m happy for Chris because he was frustrated with his performance from the perimeter last year.”
Fisher grabbed five boards during the half, and sophomore Izik Ohanon came off the bench and chipped in two offensive and two defensive rebounds. The All-Stars out-shot the Billikens 44.4 percent to 37 percent, but the Bills still managed a 32-28 lead at the end of the half.
The Billikens began the second half trading points with the All-Stars, but picked up speed and began to tighten up defensively in the half, scoring 14 unanswered points in a span of five minutes.
“I wasn’t pleased with our defense most of the game. Fifty-eight points doesn’t seem bad, but for us to be in the upper echelon this year, we are going to have to do two things well,” Soderberg said. “First, we are going to have to defend the half court. Second, we are going to have to rebound well.”
After the Bills began to pick up speed, they took off and scored more baskets than the All-Stars could answer, steadily holding a 16-point lead several times during the half, before going on a final scoring rampage led by Diener and Fisher, ending the game at 75-58.
Diener was solid in the second half, nailing five out of nine shots from three-point range; he was the leading scorer in the game.
The Bills had a strong showing from the bench, particularly Varner, who shot a perfect three for three, and Chris Braun, who added six points and four rebounds. Freshman Anthony Drejaj saw considerable time on the floor and added a basket in his debut with the Billikens.
Overall, Soderberg was pleased with the offensive efforts of the team, particularly with the performances of the veteran guards. However, Soderberg sees room for improvement before the start of the regular season.
“I want our defense to get tighter, I want it to be rock-tough,” Soderberg said. “We’re going to have to drill in practice and just get comfortable in the system.”
The Billikens will play their last exhibition game Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. against Athletes in Action. The Bills open the regular season on Nov. 22 against the University of Tennessee-Martin.
