It's been something of a familiar story; the Saint Louis University men's basketball team plays a team closely throughout the entire contest, then falls short in the final minute.
"That's our 10th loss where the game was in the balance under a minute," SLU coach Brad Soderberg said after his team fell 64-62 to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers last night at the Savvis Center.
SLU led 57-54 with just minutes remaining, but soon relinquished the lead. Carldell "Squeaky" Johnson drove to the hoop and kicked the ball out to Marvett McDonald, who tied the score with a three pointer with 4:26 to play. On the Blazers' next possession, Johnson gave his team a lead they would never lose when he hit a jumper.
SLU freshman guard Dwayne Polk had a chance to cut a four-point UAB lead in half with a pair of free throws, but he missed the first of two free-throws. He converted the second shot to cut the lead to 63-60 with 59 seconds remaining.
The Billikens opted to put the game temporarily in the hands of their defense, which didn't allow UAB to score on the ensuing possession. SLU regained possession when McDonald missed a jumper and called a timeout with 23 seconds remaining.
Instead of going for a game-tying three-pointer, the Billikens chose to cut into the UAB lead and gave the ball to center Ian Vouyoukas, who hit a mid-range jumper to bring the score to 63-62 with 11 seconds to go. After a UAB timeout, the Blazers got the ball to Donnell Taylor, whose 27 points led all scorers. He was quickly fouled and sent to the free throw line, where he made the first of two free throws, but missed the second. SLU freshman guard Luke Meyer grabbed the rebound and brought the ball down the court. After he was unable to get the ball to any of his teammates, he stepped behind the arc and put up a shot to win the game, but it was tipped by a UAB player as time expired.
Notabaly, last night's game was aired on ESPN Classic as part of their flashback series broadcasts. Additionally, although he did not play against UAB, Reggie Bryant has returned to practice after a leave of absence.
On Sunday afternoon the Billikens fell 84-66 on the road at the 12th ranked University of Louisville Cardinals in a game marred by the ejection of Soderberg in the first half.
With 4:27 to play in the opening stanza, the Cardinals' Francisco Garcia hit his second consecutive three-pointer to put his team ahead 24-22.
On the play leading up to Garcia's jumper, a Louisville player appeared to have traveled, but no call was made. Garcia eventually received the ball and hit his shot. Following the play, Soderberg proceeded to argue the missed call and was given a technical foul by referee Steve Welmer.
Shortly after getting the technical, Soderberg punched the air in frustration and was assessed a second technical by referee Curtis Shaw, thus ejecting him from the game. Garcia made all four free throws to increase the UL lead to 28-22.
The Billikens remained in the game for the rest of the half, showing that the loss of their coach wouldn't deter them. They climbed back in the game and finished the half with a 6-0 run to trail 36-34 at the half. Ohanon scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half.
The Cardinals came out of the locker room at half time on fire, opening the half with an 11-2 run to take a 47-36 lead. While the Billikens were able to bring the deficit down to single digits, UL began to reign in threes, including four in the half by guard Taquan Dean. His fourth three of the half brought Louisville's lead to 64-47.
The Billikens were led by Ohanon's 18 points, with freshman guard Danny Brown adding a career-high 13 to be the only other SLU player in double figures. The Cardinals were led by Larry O'Bannon's 17 points.
The game was the final meeting between the two teams as members of Conference USA, as SLU will move to the Atlantic 10 Conference and Louisville will move to the Big East Conference next season.
The Billikens are next in action which they travel to Chicago for a noon tip-off against the DePaul University Blue Demons at the AllState Arena.
The Blue Demons are currently 17-7 overall with a 9-4 record in Conference USA play.
DePaul defeated the Billikens 56-53 at the Savvis Center on Feb. 6. This will be the last regular season match-up between the two teams in Conference USA.
