For the Saint Louis University men's basketball team, a few surprises turned what could have been a tough night into a rewarding victory. The Billikens, with leading scorer Reggie Bryant remaining in St. Louis due to an illness, snapped their four-game losing streak last night with a 55-47 win at South Florida.
Sophomore guard Darren Clarke, playing in only his eighth game of the season and first since New Year's Eve, filled Bryant's spot in the guard rotation very capably, leading the Billikens with a career-high 15 points.
The Billikens dominated play throughout the entire first half, holding USF to only 12 points on 12 percent shooting from the field. The Bulls made their first of only three field goals in the half with just less than 12 minutes remaining.
Another key defensive statistic for the Billikens was the lack of offense put out by USF leading scorer Terrance Leather.
Leather, who entered the game averaging 18.4 points, went scoreless in the first half and didn't make a field goal the entire game, en route to a three-point effort for the Bulls' star, who was playing through an illness.
After the Billikens' dominating effort in the first half, which produced a 26-12 halftime lead for SLU, USF attempted to chip away at the Billikens' sizeable lead.
Despite the second-half charge by the Bulls, the closest they were able to come was 46-41. Following the driving lay-up by Bryan Swift that closed the gap to five points, SLU widened their lead, mostly on free throws, to produce the final score of 55-47.
The Billikens' third scorer to reach double figures was junior guard Anthony Drejaj, who played solidly in the backcourt with 10 points.
The win improved the Billikens to 6-16 overall and 4-6 in Conference USA action. With the loss, the Bulls fell to 10-11 overall and 3-7 in C-USA.
On Sunday, the Billikens got off to a quick start against DePaul University, but the 15-5 Blue Demons eventually took the lead late in the first half and held off the Billikens 56-53 at the Savvis Center.
SLU scored early and often with a revamped starting lineup, featuring three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior. After a lay-up by Polk with 11:37 to play in the half the Billikens led 15-5.
After DePaul closed the gap to 15-11 following a pair of jumpers by Drake Diener and a lay-up by Jamal Nichols, SLU went on a six-point run of their own.
After Bryant made a jumper with 7:21 left in the half, the Billikens regained their largest lead of the half, 21-11.
DePaul outscored the Billikens 15-4 in the remaining minutes of the half, with sophomore guard Sammy Mejia scoring 10 points during the run, including a jumper with just under a minute remaining, which was the final tally of the half, giving DePaul a 26-25 lead at halftime.
The Blue Demons led much of the second half, though the Billikens did wrestle the lead from DePaul on a few occasions. The first came on perhaps the most exciting play of the game. After freshman guard Dwayne Polk had cut the Blue Demons' lead to 35-34 with a jumper on the previous possession, Polk sped down the court, and with a defender challenging him, tried to convert a lay-up, but the ball fell off the rim, where sophomore center Ian Vouyoukas was able to collect the rebound and dunk the ball in one motion to give the Billikens a 36-35 lead.
Following empty possessions by both teams, Meyer hit a big three pointer from the corner off a pass from Polk to narrow the gap to 54-53. The Billikens immediately applied full-court pressure, against which the Blue Demons struggled to inbound the ball. After struggling to advance the ball after five seconds, DePaul called a timeout with 14 seconds remaining.
After the Blue Demons successfully in-bounded the ball following the timeout, DePaul forward Quemont Greer was fouled and sent to the free-throw line. He missed his first shot, but the rebound was tipped away from a pair of SLU players out to Diener around the three-point line, where he was quickly fouled and sent to the line. He made the first, which gave him a second shot, and increased the lead to 56-53. After a timeout, Polk brought the ball down the court for the Billikens. He looked to find Bryant open around the three-point arc, but Bryant wasn't open, so Polk put up a shot of his own from the top of the key, which was blocked. Time expired before Polk could get off another shot.
"We defended extremely well, we actually ran better offense from a field-goal percentage standpoint than we have in a while," said SLU coach Brad Soderberg after the game as he outlined his team's strong points.
Outlining the negatives, he said, "We did a poor job on the offensive glass and then their best players stepped up and made two big plays at the end when they needed it most."
The Billikens play two games at home in the next week. On Saturday, Charlotte will meet the Billikens at the Savvis Center in a Conference USA battle. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. The 49ers are 16-4 overall with a 7-2 C-USA record.
On Wednesday night SLU will play their final regular season non-conference game when Indiana University-Purdue University-Fort Wayne will meet the Billikens at the Savvis Center for a 7:10 p.m. tip-off. The Mastodons are 3-19 this season.
