ST. LOUIS — Grandy Glaze knocked down all seven shots he took en route to a career-high 16-point performance to help Saint Louis to an 87-64 victory over Southeast Missouri in its season opener. Seniors Dwayne Evans (16), Jordair Jett (15) and Rob Loe (13) also finished in double-figures for the Billikens, who managed to pull away in the second half following a rather lackluster first half performance.
SEMO built its largest lead of the evening at 38-34 less than a minute into the second half, but a trio of seniors fired back for Saint Louis with a 25-9 run, that was sparked by consecutive layups from Jett, Evans and Loe and was capped off with a 3-pointer from Loe that gave SLU its largest lead of the night at 59-43 with just under 10 minutes remaining.
As a team, the Billikens shot 51-percent from the field, but hit just three of 19 shots from behind the arc (1-for-12 in the first half alone). Defensively, they forced 19 turnovers and won the battle on the boards 38-34.
JUCO transfer Jakerious Bradley recorded a double-double in his first career game, racking up a game-high 22 points and 12 rebounds, to go with a pair of blocks and four steals. He knocked down 10 of the 17 shots he took from the field, but had to sit out after picking up his third foul early in the second half, which allowed SLU to eventually seize control. Antonius Cleveland (14) and Darrian Gray (12) also finished in double-figures for the Redhawks, who shot 37.5 percent from the field.
After sitting out all of last season per NCAA regulations, Austin McBroom seemed a little over anxious in his first regular season game, hitting just two of nine shots from the field (1-for-5 on 3-pointers) with three turnovers compared to just two assists. Freshmen Tanner Lancona and Mike Crawford also made their collegiate debuts, but Crawford was the only one to show up on the score sheet, finishing with eight points. The team’s third scholarship freshman, Reggie Agbeko, was sidelined with an undisclosed injury.
Senior Mike McCall Jr. was just 3-for-13 with eight points, but registered five points and a steal for the home team.
SLU will take to the road for its next two games, traveling to SIUE (Nov. 13) and SIU (Nov. 16) before returning to Chaifetz Arena to take on Oral Roberts on Nov. 21.
