Defense wins championships and Tuesday night, Saint Louis University used a strong defensive effort to knock off No. 24 VCU 76-62 and move into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10. It was the eighth win in a row for SLU, who secured its second consecutive 20-win season—a feat that had not been accomplished since the Charlie Spoonhour era in the mid-90s.

“This team’s just getting good at handling business,” said forward Dwayne Evans who finished with 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds. “We come out and don’t let the pressure get to us if we’re playing ranked teams.”

“I thought Saint Louis played great tonight from the opening tip until the final buzzer,” VCU coach Shaka Smart said. “They have a group with a lot of experience and a lot of positive leadership.”

The Billikens never trailed and had little trouble working against the Rams’ trademark “Havoc” defense, which uses a variety of presses to accelerate their opponent and force turnovers. As a team, SLU committed just eight turnovers and finished shooting 55.3 percent from the field.

“We said the defense is going to help us against the press offensively because they can’t set it up,” SLU interim coach Jim Crews explained. “VCU is very good [defensively] in the half-court… people get across against the press and it’s almost like, ‘Whew, got through that,’ and they don’t run their offense… The press is going to get you into a little bit of a scramble and then if you let them reset in half-court, then they’re loaded up on you again.”

SLU raced out to an early five-point lead before Rob Brandenberg hit a layup and drew a foul to push the score to 11-8 with 11:41 left. However, Brandenberg, who had hit 13 of his last 15 shots from the line, was unable to complete the three-point play—an ominous sign for the Rams who mustered just one point over the next 10 minutes.

“It was a little bit of luck,” Evans admitted. “I think there was one possession they had six straight offensive rebounds, so we can’t take too much pride in that. We locked down defensively, we’ve got guys making rotations, blocking out, rebounding down, so it’s a good combination.”

The Rams managed to stop the bleeding late in the first half, cutting the Billikens’ lead to 17 heading into the break. Juvonte Reddic and Treveon Graham spearheaded their team’s late surge, combining for nine points.

Four different Billikens finished in double-figures, including Jordair Jett who registered a team-high 16 points, all of which came in the second half.

“He was outstanding,” Crews said. “He pulled off some mid-range jump shots, which you don’t see in college basketball very often, but he took the ball to the bucket, he got to the line, he led the break [and he] snapped some really good passes to get other guys in position to score.

The Rams appeared to hit their stride early in the second half, using a 9-2 run to make it an 11-point game with 16:20 remaining. Jett responded for SLU, however, rattling off 12 straight points over the next three minutes to push the lead back to 17.

“They were the aggressors for the majority of tonight,” Smart said. “That’s always a bad sign for us if we’re not the more aggressive team.”

SLU guard Mike McCall Jr. put together a solid performance, racking up 15 points, four rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists.

It was a historic night for senior Kwamain Mitchell who finished with six points, moving him into ninth place on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,441.

Fellow senior Cody Ellis’ 10-point performance Tuesday night means he is just five points shy of becoming the 27th member of SLU’s 1000-point club.

“Saint Louis is playing better than anybody else in the league,” Smart said. “They have good pieces that are able to do a lot of different things. They have quite a few guys that can hurt in a lot of different ways.”

In order for SLU to retain its spot atop the Atlantic 10 standings, it will have to knock off No. 15 Butler Friday night at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs, who were blown out by the Billikens on Jan. 31 at Chaifetz Arena, are currently just a half game back in second place.

“That’s what I love about college basketball,” Evans said. “You play a big game and you got two days to get ready for another huge game.