January 26, 2000
ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis knocked off Marquette 67-52 tonight in a Conference USA men's basketball game before 13,411 at Kiel Center. After being held to 38 points in their earlier meeting on Jan. 5 in Milwaukee, the Billikens rolled to a 33-23 halftime lead and never looked back.
"We've had some big wins this year, but the thing that pleases me most about this game is that we executed all of the things that we practiced this week in order to win this game," said Billikens head coach Lorenzo Romar. "We controlled the backboards early, which we did not do at Marquette, and we had good pressure on defense."
Marquette scoring leader Brian Wardle kept Marquette in the game early. He had eight of the Golden Eagles' 10 points as MU led 10-7 at the 13:36 mark. But Billiken senior guard Dave Fergerson drilled a three to knot the game, and the Bills went on a 9-0 run to take a 16-10 lead.
The Billikens dominated the glass in the first half and out-rebounded the Eagles 16-8 on their way to a 33-23 halftime advantage. SLU limited the Eagles to one offensive rebound in the first 20 minutes.
Marquette tried to rally early in the second half by scoring the first five points on a Cordell Henry drive and a John Cliff trey. After a timeout, Saint Louis responded with a 13-3 run to put the game away. Although Justin Love scored five of the points in that rally, the Billikens underscored their balance on the night as all five starters scored in that sequence.
Saint Louis built the lead to as many as 19 before settling for the final margin. Love led four Bills in double figures with 18. Maurice Jeffers chipped in with 12, Fergerson supplied 11 and Matt Baniak added 10.
After shooting 25 percent in the game in Milwaukee, the Bills shot 50 percent from the field and limited Marquette to 37.5 percent from the floor. Wardle finished with 24 for the Eagles, and Cliff added 10.
"They were the aggressor, played with more emotion from the jump ball and deserved to win," said Golden Eagles coach Tom Crean. "We had a very hard time getting anything going, and that's a credit to their pressure defense. It was difficult for us to get any looks, and we gave up way too many shots in the post ups."
Saint Louis (11-7, 3-3) completes a two-game Conference USA homestand on Sat., Jan. 29, by hosting Louisville at noon at Kiel. Marquette (11-7, 4-3) continues their three-game road swing at UNC Charlotte on Saturday.
