Homestand starts swimmingly, Majerus’ next milestone in sight

With 11:38 left to play in the second half, junior Kwamain Mitchell drained a trey and became the 25th player to bucket 1,000 points as the Saint Louis Billikens defeated Vermont 62-43 on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at Chaifetz Arena. The victory advances SLU to 8-1 while the Catamounts fall to 4-5. Mitchell was one of four Billikens to score 10 points, joining Brian Conklin, Dwayne Evans and Cody Ellis. Evans added a game-high 10 rebounds, including four on the offensive glass, for his first double-double of the season and sixth of his career.

“I wasn’t really even thinking about that, to be honest,” Mitchell said of his 1,000-point milestone. “What I’m focused on is the confidence our 8-1, our great start, is giving us. Every day I’m coming out and working hard … but the milestone feels great. There are a lot more to accomplish.”

The Billikens made their first four shots of the game, and 12 of their first 15, in building a 14-point out-of-the-gate cushion. Baskets by Evans and Mitchell gave SLU a 4-3 lead. The Bills finally came up empty on their sixth possession but bounced back with a 10-0 run to stretch their lead to 20-7. Sophomore Mike McCall, Jr., and Cory Remekun hit jumpers, and Ellis and Mitchell buried 3-pointers to finish the spurt.

Vermont would make the rest of the first half interesting by switching to a 2-3 zone defense, essentially starving the Billikens’ offense. SLU scored just seven points over a near-seven minute period while the Catamounts went on a 15-point tear. Kyle Cassity hit a trey with 5:11 left in the half, and the Bills took a 34-27 lead to the locker room at half.

SLU Head Coach Rick Majerus preaches to his players to start each half like the score is 0-0, and his team responded against Vermont, scoring on its first three possessions of the second half. Following a Vermont basket, Evans gathered a Saint Louis miss and scored to make it 41-29.

The Billiken defense then took over, forcing eight straight empty possessions by the Catamounts. SLU’s largest lead, by 25, came with 3:43 left in the half.

“We played our [butt]’s off the second half,” Majerus said. “Sometimes you have to be careful; you win the battles but lose the war. It was one of those ‘Tales of Two Cities’ games. Whatever you accept in victory, you have to accept in defeat. But we played well. I’ve never doubted that players win games.”

SLU cooled to a 37.5-percent shooting clip in the second half, but a 60.9 percent accuracy in the first 20 minutes allowed the Billikens to finish the game at 48.9 percent, including 44.4 percent (8-of-18) from 3-point distance. Vermont shot 50 percent in the first half, then slipped to 25 percent after the break to finish at 36.4 percent.

On Saturday, Dec. 10, should the Billikens win, Majerus will register his 500th career victory. Tip-off against Illinois-Springfield is at 1 p.m. at Chaifetz Arena.