The Saint Louis University men’s basketball looked in prime midseason form as they trounced the Duquesne Dukes 68-41.
The Bills (15-4, 3-2 Atlantic 10) distributed the ball well as five players scored in double figures. The Bills were led by Dwayne Evans who had his third double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Mike McCall Jr. and Brian Conklin had 11 points a piece; Kwamain Mitchell and Kyle Cassity both scored 10 points.
“Obviously, very pleased with the effort tonight,” SLU Assistant Coach Chris Harriman said, “I thought defensively we did a good job on their perimeter, kept them out of the paint, slowed down their transition, which is obviously what they are very good at and for a team that averages 76 points a game to hold them to 41 was exact what we tried to do.”
The Bills jumped out of the gate with an early 16-4 lead. A desperate three pointer by Mike McCall Jr. capped the run with 14:34 remaining in the first half.
The Dukes responded with a 16-3 run which gave them their only lead of the game, 20-19.
The Bills regained the lead on a Cassity layup, 21-20, and the Bills never gave the lead back to the Dukes.
Conklin extended the Bills lead to 34-24 with 2:00 left in the first half. After a Cody Ellis three pointer, the Dukes made a two pointer as the first half clock expired that gave the Bills a 37-26 lead going into halftime.
The Bills started the second half with a 12-3 run which gave them a 49-29 lead with 15:12 left in the second half.
The Dukes responded with an 8-0 run which cut the Bills lead to 12 points, 49-37, but the Bills responded with their own 8-0 run to give them a 20 point advantage and a 57-37 lead. The Dukes were limited to 15 points in the second half and shot 21 % from the field in the second half.
“They are a big fast break kind of team so we tried to make it into a half-court game and utilize our advantages down low and I think we did a good job of stopping them for the most part,” Evans said.
The Bills now go on the road to face two tough teams in the A 10. The Bills will play at Xavier on Wednesday Jan. 25 and then travel to Massachusetts on Saturday Jan. 28.
“It’s going to be a tough week,” Cassity said, “We have to go out and win on the road.”
Xavier (13-6, 4-2 A 10) lost on Saturday Jan. 21 at Dayton, 87-72. Xavier is lead by the guard play of Tu Holloway and Mark Lyons. Xavier is currently tied for second in the A 10 conference standings.
The Xavier game will be televised by Fox Sports Midwest and the tip time for the game is set for 6 p.m. CST.
