The season ended on a sour note for the Billikens, who dropped two of their last three games prior to the A-10 Tournament.

The sole win was a home game against George Washington on Saturday, Feb. 24, when SLU upended the Colonials 62-53.

Early on, shots didn’t fall for either team. Redshirt junior guard Javon Bess opened scoring at the 18:12 mark with a pair of free throws. The first bucket, a layup, came a minute later from redshirt junior forward D.J. Foreman. The first half was nothing but back-and-forth until the 2:43 mark. A Foreman layup and trey from senior guard Davell Roby put the Billikens ahead 25-19, but a GW answer sent SLU to the half with a 25-22 lead.

Out of the gate in the second half, a layup and dunk from freshman forward Hasahn French built a seven-point cushion. The Colonials rallied, closing within one point at the 9:05 mark. A pair of Roby free throws and a Bess jumper increased the SLU lead back to five points at the 8:04 mark. A trey from sophomore forward Jalen Johnson and pair of French free throws further increased the lead to eight points with 2:39 to play in the half.

SLU was fresh off a heartbreaking loss at Dayton, and the short-handed Billikens started to get fatigued again. Ford took one look at the team during the 8-minute timeout in the second half and knew that he had to “talk them out of it.”

The Billikens traveled to Duquesne for the penultimate regular season game on Wednesday, Feb. 28. SLU ended up losing 76-69.

Duquesne took an early 16-8 lead at the 12:31 mark of the first half. A layup and trey from redshirt senior guard Aaron Hines closed the gap to three points at the 10:36 mark. Duquesne led by as much as 12 points with 4:57 left in the first half, but SLU embarked on an 11-4 run in the final three minutes of the half and went to the locker room trailing by just three points.

SLU ended up taking a late lead in the second half, going ahead 60-57 at the 4:41 mark. Duquesne went on a 9-0 run, and SLU couldn’t come back from the late rally.

The final regular season game for the Billikens was at Chaifetz Arena on Saturday, Mar. 3. St. Bonaventure came to town for Senior Day. The Billikens dropped this game 64-56.

A quick 5-0 rally erased the Bonnies’ early lead, but the Bonnies led by five points at the 8:02 mark. SLU headed to the locker room on the wrong side of a 31-25 margin.

The second half started off terribly for the Billikens, and the Bonnies led by as much as 15 points at the 8:44 mark. SLU mounted a 10-2 run (with a pair of buckets from Bess, and a Hines trey and a pair of layups from Hines) to close within three points with 2:43 left in the game. The Bonnies went to the line four times in the closing minutes and sunk their free throws to start senior day off on a sour note.

In their senior day speeches, both Anthony and Hines thanked the fans for their support.

Anthony said, “I’ve never seen a student section so lit. Thank you for letting me be a Billiken.”

Hines simply stated, “I’d like to thank all the fans for coming out.”

Roby gave a heartfelt speech to the arena, ending with a thank you to Ford, “because [Roby] knows [he] can be a case sometimes.” Roby later explained that his ‘case’ comment refers to a “tough love situation” between himself and Ford.

Ford, who yelled “shut up” to a Bonnies fan and nearly threw a water bottle on the court after a controversial call, expressed his thank you to everybody in the arena. In his senior day speech, Ford told the crowd, “…team blue is about the [players], the managers, the coaches, and all of [the fans]…”

SLU heads to D.C. and will face George Washington in the second round of the A-10 Tournament on Thursday, Mar. 8. SLU’s game will tip at 7:30 p.m. St. Louis time, and will be carried on NBC Sports Network.