SLU Men’s Basketball traveled to New York Saturday, Feb. 18 for an A-10 matchup against Fordham. SLU tried, but was never able to get its offense fired up enough in the 54-40 loss.
SLU dips to 9-18 overall and 4-10 in the A-10.
The Rams led by eight at halftime. Junior guard Davell Roby buried a trey early in the second half to bring SLU within five, but Fordham denied SLU’s attempts at a second-half rally.
Freshman forward Elliott Welmer led SLU with 10 points and five rebounds. Freshman forward Jalen Johnson tallied eight points, with freshman guard Zeke Moore, Roby and junior guard Aaron Hines each tallying six.
Johnson buried a trey, and now has hit at least one trey in 15 straight games.
SLU’s 40 points were a season low. They shot 37.5 percent from the field, 26.7 percent from 3-point range, and 54.5 percent from the free-throw line.
SLU men’s basketball traveled to Virginia on Wednesday, Feb. 22 for an A-10 matchup against the VCU Rams. SLU got off to a great start, keeping up with the Rams, but the Rams rallied at the end of the first half and all throughout the second half to defeat the Billikens. 64-50 was the final score.
SLU started their usual five: Roby, Johnson, Hines, senior guard Mike Crawford and Welmer.
SLU controlled the tip, and the teams battled back and forth after a Johnson trey at 19:00 opened scoring. Thanks to treys from Johnson, Roby, Moore and Hines, SLU took 23-17 with 7:59 to play in the first half.
VCU went on a 6-0 run to tie the game up at 23-23 with 6:29 to play.
A Johnson layup ended the VCU run, but VCU went on a 7-0 run to reclaim a 30-25 lead over SLU. SLU, however, stayed within two until a VCU layup with 2:13 left ignited a 11-0 run that sent VCU to the locker room with a 40-31 lead.
VCU started the second half with the ball, but a Roby layup silenced the Rams temporarily. VCU rallied, taking a 32-46 lead with 15:30 to play.
VCU’s rally continued, but a free throw from senior forward Reggie Agbeko and a Roby layup cut into the rally. VCU took a 52-35 lead with 11:40 to play.
A pair of Agbeko layups and three Johnson free throws brought SLU within 14 with 7:58 to play.
VCU continued the rally all the way to the final media timeout, holding a 62-44 with 3:37 to play.
Despite VCU only hitting two free throws in the final minutes, and a Billiken rally from a pair of Crawford free throws and layups from Welmer and Hines, VCU was able to hold on for the win.
SLU shot 48.1 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from 3-point range in the first half. Johnson led SLU with 17 points and seven rebounds, just shy of the double-double. Roby chipped in 11 points, shooting 5-12 from the field. Agbeko chipped in seven points, shooting 3-6 from the field.
SLU returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 25, hosting the St. Joseph Hawks at Chaifetz Arena at 7 p.m. Their final two conference games are against La Salle and Richmond.
