The Billikens traveled 30 minutes away to Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville (SIUE) for their first road game of the season Wednesday night, coming away with an 82-58 victory. Jett led the Billikens with 16 points while Glaze was just a single point away from his second straight double-double, finishing with nine points and 14 rebounds. Evans and Mike McCall Jr. both dropped in 14 points for the Billikens. Freshman Tanner Lancona also scored his first points as a Billiken hitting two free throws and a three-pointer.

Donivine Steward and Ray Lester, who netted 14 and 10 points apiece, paced the Cougars. Former-Billiken Christian Salecich played 24 minutes for the Cougars but was only able to manage two points on 1-for-6 shooting from the field.

Although it may not seem like it, the game was a tale of two halves for the Billikens. The Bills started the game two for nine from the field, but went on a 16-0 run that put them up 41-25 midway through the first half. The Billikens ended the half shooting 60 percent from the field including four of six from deep in route to a 46-21 lead. McCall led the Bills with 14 points and three others chipped in with eight apiece.

It was a different story in the second half for the Billikens, however. The Billikens held their largest lead in the game during the second half when they led 72-42, but were outscored 37-35 in the period. Midway through the second half, the Billikens were held scoreless for almost 4 minutes but in the end it was all for naught as they still led by 25. After the game, Coach Jim Crews was very happy with the team effort.

“We played very, very well tonight,” Coach Crews said. “I thought we were excellent defensively and that ignited our offense. In terms of running the floor, our bigs were running the floor extremely well which opened up some things for the perimeter guys and themselves.”

The Billikens will be on the road for their next game, Saturday at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale at 7 p.m.