Following the Saint Louis University men’s basketball team’s
67-60 win over the University of Missouri St. Louis in a preseason
game Friday night, one might have thought, “How can you beat a
Division 2 team by only seven points?”
To answer the question, you must take a much closer look at the
way both teams played the game.
SLU showed its dominance early, scoring the first 12 points of
the game and finishing the first half with a 40-22 lead.
The Billikens used their distinct size advantage to dominate
play in the paint, scoring 22 points there in the half.
They also forced the Rivermen into committing eight turnovers
which were converted into 10 points for SLU.
The second half was a bit of a different story.
After being manhandled for the first half, UMSL started the
second half on a small run, scoring the first five points of the
half.
As UMSL’s coach, Chris Pilz continued to play a lineup
predominantly composed of four guards, the effectiveness of SLU’s
inside players, Ian Bouzoukis, Vas’shun Newborne, Tom Frericks and
Izik Ohanon, was suddenly lessened as SLU coach, Brad Soderberg,
was forced to play a smaller, quicker lineup in order to better run
with UMSL’s guards.
Throughout the second half, UMSL continued to close the once
large Billikens lead.
UMSL got the lead down to as low as six points with 1:12
remaining in the game after Joey Paul hit a three-pointer for the
Rivermen.
That was as close as they would get, as SLU senior guard Reggie
Bryant made a pair of free throws, followed by freshman guard
Dwayne Polk making 1-2 from the charity stripe.
Bryant led all scorers with 16 points on the night.
The Billikens’ leading scorer from last season made every shot
he took, going 3-3 from the field, including 2-2 from three-point
range, and 8-8 from the free-throw line.
Junior Vas’shun Newbourne had a successful Billiken debut from
the scoring aspect, shooting 7-14 from the field en route to 14
points.
His one weakness Friday night, however, was that he came down
with only one rebound. Izik Ohanon and sophomore Ian Vouyoukas also
provided valuable inside help as they both narrowly missed out on
double-doubles, with Ohanon finishing with 10 points and eight
rebounds and Vouyoukas notching nine points and eight rebounds,
respectively.
For the game, the Billikens shot 42.6 percent from the field,
while the Rivermen shot 36.5 percent.
SLU won the rebounding battle 42-35, but UMSL had fewer
turnovers with 12 to SLU’s 15.
After their strong first half, the Billikens committed 11 of
their 15 turnovers in the second half, which coincided with UMSL
making their way back into the game.
“We have plenty of areas where we can get better, and that’s
something that we’ll start hitting on right away in practice,”
Soderberg said after the game.
Soderberg also felt that kudos were in order for UMSL.
“I think UMSL deserves a lot of credit. I thought they played
really hard. They took advantage of an opportunity to play in front
of the local people, and they did a great job,” he said.
SLU will next be in action Saturday at 1 p.m. when they will
play their second and final preseason game against Truman State
University, located in Kirksville, Mo. The game will be played at
the Savvis Center in downtown St. Louis.
Following the completion of their preseason schedule, the
Billikens will begin the regular season by playing in the Paradise
Jam tournament in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. SLU will play their
first of three games on Friday, Nov. 19, against Austin Peay and
their second game on Sunday, Nov. 21, against Eastern Michigan.
Both games will be played at 4:30 p.m. Their third and final
game in the tournament will be played on Monday, Nov. 22.
The opponent and time of the third game will be determined upon
the completion of the second day of games. Possible opponents are
the University of Arkansas, Winthrop and Troy State.
