"We just couldn't put the ball in the basket," Saint Louis University men's basketball coach Brad Soderberg said Saturday afternoon. After his team shot just over 30 percent from the field en route to a 55-54 loss to the Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles at the Savvis Center.
The Billikens were plagued by poor shooting throughout the game, especially in the paint, where they made only 13 of 33 shots.
The low scoring first half saw both teams shoot poorly, with the Billikens shooting 22.9 percent and Oral Roberts close behind at 22.2 percent. SLU took the early lead when senior center Tom Frericks made a pair of free throws in the game's first minute. The Golden Eagles took their first lead of the game when Ken Tutt made a three pointer to give his team a 7-4 lead with 16:19 to go in the half.
Oral Roberts maintained their lead until seconds before the midway point of the half when SLU senior center Reggie Bryant scored on his second consecutive possession to give the Billikens a 12-11 lead with 10 minutes to play in the half. The Billikens would remain in the lead until the 1:37 mark in the half when Caleb Green made one of two free throws to tie the score at 19-19. The Golden Eagles took the lead into the locker room at halftime, after Tutt made a lay-up with 14 seconds to play in the half.
"We were in a position to have a 10 or 12-point lead at the half if we had just made shots at a reasonable clip," Soderberg said in reference to his team's poor first-half shooting, where they made only six of 20 shots in the paint.
Oral Roberts dramatically improved their shooting percentage in the second half, shooting a red-hot 53.8 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from three-point range. They maintained a small lead for most of the second half and expanded the lead to eight points following a three pointer by Tutt to give his team a 47-39 lead with 6:02 left in the game. SLU freshman guard Dwayne Polk responded by drilling two three pointers of his own on the Billikens' next two possessions to cut the lead to 47-45.
The Billikens took a 53-52 lead with 56 seconds remaining when Bryant made a pair of free throws. Following a defensive stop for SLU, Polk was fouled with 24 seconds to go. He missed the first free throw to the right, but made the second to give his team a 54-52 lead.
Following a time out, Oral Roberts put the ball in the hands of Tutt, who lead all scorers with 20 points. With 10 seconds remaining, he came off a screen and made a long, high-arching jumper from about 22 feet to give the Golden Eagles a 55-54 lead.
Polk brought the ball up the court for the Billikens and got the ball into Bryant's hands.
The senior, who led the Bills in scoring for the game with 14 points, had his shot blocked in the lane with seconds remaining.
With the loss the Billikens continued their disappointing beginning to the season, falling to 1-3, but Soderberg hopes that his players will get off the mat.
"My challenge to them when I left the locker room was to stay positive and united because the worst thing that can happen now when you lose tough games is to doubt. I don't think they will do that because they are solid people."
The loss comes a week after SLU's fifth place finish in the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. The Billikens lost each of their first two games after holding late leads. In the opener against Austin Peay, SLU battled back from a 33-20 deficit with 12:09 to play to hold a three-point lead with seconds remaining, but Maurice Hampton drilled a three pointer just before the buzzer sounded to force overtime. They were outscored 8-1 in overtime en route to a 52-45 loss.
SLU seemed to have righted the ship two days later against Eastern Michigan behind senior forward Izik Ohanon's career-high 23 points, only to lose another late lead before falling 61-58 to EMU. The next day in the fifth place game the Billikens got into the win column with a 63-55 win over Troy.
The Billikens are next in action against the University of Hawaii on Saturday afternoon at the Savvis Center. The Rainbow Warriors are 3-0 this season after defeating Southern Illinois University-Carbondale on Tuesday night. On Tuesday, Dec. 7, the Billikens will host the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
