Playing against George Washington should have been quick and easy. It was neither, and Saint Louis University had to, again, rely on a late second-half run to salvage a 63-59 win last Saturday against the Colonials. A record 9,690 attended the match at Chaifetz Arena.
The win, SLU’s ninth in a row and 10th in 11 tries at Chaifetz Arena, moves the Billikens to 11-6 overall and 2-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Last season, SLU scored an NCAA record-low twenty points against GWU.
Kevin Lisch scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Bills, including a crucial 3-pointer to cap the game-deciding 9-0 run. Tommie Liddell III added 14 points, while Brian Conklin and Kwamain Mitchell each had nine.
“I was on edge right from the start,” head coach Rick Majerus said. “We might not be smart, we might not be tough, but we’re exciting.”
That might be an understatement. This was the fourth straight game SLU trailed at the half, though they’ve come back to win three of them. The team also has not led by more than eight points in all but one game this season.
George Washington (6-9, 0-3) led throughout the majority of the first half, though the Colonials shot a dismal 35 percent. The two teams would trade buckets down the stretch, and a pair of Lisch free throws in the final 30 seconds of the first half helped SLU slim its deficit to one at 27-26.
The second half started with back-and-forth action, much like the first half. The Bills took the lead for the first time since it was 4-2 early in the game at the 14:15 mark of the second half. Freshman Brian Conklin would score eight of SLU’s nine points in the middle of the half and put SLU on top, 46-44.
SLU would go up by as much as seven with just under three minutes remaining only to watch the lead dwindle. GWU’s Travis King and Wynton Witherspoon would hit big threes to go ahead by one. That’s as close as the Billikens would let the Colonials come; SLU took the lead with 39 seconds to play and held on while the record crowd held their breath. Free throws by Barry Eberhardt sealed the win with just 5 ticks left on the clock.
“We pulled through,” Lisch said. “We made strides but we’ve got a lot to work on. We’ve got to come out a little better in the first half.”
SLU shot a dazzling 60.9 percent in the second half. But the team made mistakes on offense; the Bills turned the ball over 14 times in the game and had just seven offense boards, compared to 25 defensive rebounds.
“They hit some tough shots,” Majerus said. “We did a good job defending the post, reading the pass and anticipating it. And we got to get back, challenge them down the court.”
Lisch, who missed practice Friday after taking a knee to the thigh, was 6-10 overall and 4-8 from the arc. This was the third time this season that he has shot over 50 percent in a game.
“We broke down a little bit just on fatigue, we lost Lisch a couple of times and he was able to make shots for them,” Colonials head coach Karl Hobbs said. “That was the difference in the game, Lisch finding open areas to score.”
SLU faces A-10 opponent Temple (9-7, 1-1) tonight in Philadelphia. The contest will air nationally on CBS College Sports. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.
