The first time the Saint Louis University Billikens and Dayton Flyers played this year, the Billikens came out on the wrong end of a 79-72 overtime game at the University of Dayton Arena. Fast forward exactly one month, and the Billikens used a stifling defense to send the Flyers to their fourth-straight loss 58-50 in front of 10,414 fans, the second-highest attendance ever, at Chaifetz Arena Saturday night.

The Billikens were led by Brian Conklin’s team-high 16 points to go along with his eight rebounds and Kwamain Mitchell’s team-high 4 assists to go along with his 12 points. Dwayne Evans contributed a team-high 10 rebounds and just missed his team-leading fifth double-double with 9 points.

In the first meeting between the two teams, Dayton point guard Kevin Dillard was able to break loose for 18 points and 10 assists in front of his home crowd. His trip to Chaifetz, however, was much less hospitable. Behind the trio of Kwamain Mitchell, Mike McCall Jr., and Jordair Jett, the Billikens held Dillard to just 11 points on 2-10 shooting and limited him to just 2 assists.

Senior Chris Johnson led the Flyers with 16 points and seven rebounds. Senior Luke Fabrizius chipped in a team-high 9 rebounds, but both Fabrizius and starting center, junior Matt Kavanaugh, were limited in the second half with foul trouble.

The Billikens’ defense was much better this time around compared to their last matchup, where they allowed Dayton to shoot 43 percent overall and 50 percent from 3. Tonight, the Flyers were stifled into just 24.6 percent shooting and an abysmal 16 percent from 3.

“The best thing about our defense was, in the face of dejection and adversity, we didn’t play backwards. We came back with greater resolve and channeled the anxiety and disappointment of missed shots and missed foul-shots into a greater defensive effort,” Head Coach Rick Majerus said.

The first half of the game was a very back and forth affair with four ties and one lead change, and it saw the Billikens take their biggest lead of the night, 11, with just under two minutes to go in the first half. The Flyers, however, were able to battle back and make it a 6-point game at the half. The second half was very much grind-it-out, with neither team shooting the ball well, but the Billikens never relinquished their lead.

The Flyers were able to get it close in the closing minutes, but both Brian Conklin and Dwayne Evans were able to hit the back end of their double-bonus free throws with 30 seconds remaining. Mike McCall Jr., hit two free throws after Dayton Coach Archie Miller was given a technical for arguing a non-call on a Chris Johnson 3-point attempt with just over 10 seconds remaining and the Billikens leading by 6.

“Just another one to put in the history book. It was another one of those fun ones that comes down to the wire, the last four minutes of the game we were able to get stops and make one-of-two free throws most of the time, and we made them when we needed to,” Conklin said.

“I thought our defense was very good today. We played one-on-five instead of one-on-one. Our defense was what kept us in the game,” Evans said.

The Billikens are now 18-5 overall and 6-3 in conference play, and they have won five of their last six games to pull within just one-half game for first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Billikens will now travel to Philadelphia this week to take on St. Joseph on Wednesday, Feb. 8 and LaSalle on Saturday, Feb. 11.