Nov. 27, 1999
ST. LOUIS - Louisiana Tech freshman Antonio Meeking supplied game highs of 19 points and 11 rebounds as the Bulldogs handed Saint Louis its first defeat this season 68-60 in a non-conference men's basketball game this afternoon at Kiel Center. The Bulldogs finished their season-opening three-game road trip this week with a 2-1 record.
"That's a good, veteran team that beat us here today," said Billikens head coach Lorenzo Romar. "They have four starters back from a Sun Belt Conference championship team that is favored to repeat. But if we want to do well in Conference USA, we are going to have to beat teams like that especially on our home floor."
Saint Louis surged to an early 11-4 lead on four points by Justin Tatum along with a lay-up and trey from Marque Perry. When Perry made a free throw at the 13:52 mark, the Bills enjoyed their largest lead of the day at 12-4.
LaTech climbed back into the game by limiting the Billikens to 31.3 percent shooting in the first half, which was the Bills' worst shooting half of the young season. The Bulldogs grabbed their first lead on a Meeking lay-up at 14-13 in the midst of a 12-to-1 run.
Saint Louis responded with a 7-to-2 run of its own and reclaimed the lead at 21-18 on a pair of Maurice Jeffers free throws. LaTech took the lead again for good on a pair of back-to-back threes from Gerrod Henderson and Craig Jackson. The Bulldogs carried a two-point lead to the intermission.
Saint Louis couldn't get anything going at the start of the second half, and the Bulldogs gradually pulled out to a 12-point advantage with 11:38 to play on another pair of Meeking free throws. The Billikens worked hard at cutting into the advantage and narrowed the margin to 60-56 with 2:36 to play on a Chris Braun three-pointer, but couldn't complete the rally. The Bulldogs drained 6-of-8 free throws in the final 2:07 to lock the game up.
"I'm very proud of our team, because this is such a tough place to win," LaTech head coach Keith Richard said. "Today's game is an indication that if we play well, play as a team and play with balance then on a given night we can step up and play with the people in Conference USA or whatever."
The Billikens shot a season-low 34.4 percent from the floor and watched LaTech produce 15 points off 16 Billiken turnovers. "They did a good job of taking away the wings, so we had a difficult time starting our offense," Billiken guard Justin Love said. "We tried to get it going from different spots, but just never were able to."
Perry led the Bills in scoring for the second consecutive game with 16 points, and Tatum was the only other player in double figures with 11. The Bulldogs answered with three other players joining Meeking in double figures. Kendrick Spruel added 15, Jackson contributed 14 and Henderson tossed in 11.
Saint Louis completed its four-game season-opening homestand by winning three of four. The Billikens venture on the road for the first time on Wed., Dec. 1, when Saint Louis visits Kansas State.
