Saint Louis University sophomore guard Drew Diener drained a 25-foot 3-pointer with five seconds to play as the Billikens opened their men's basketball season with a 60-57 white knuckler over Illinois-Chicago this afternoon before a paid crowd of 10,326 at Savvis Center. Sophomore forward Chris Braun topped the Billikens with a career high 17 points.

The Billikens had the ball and called timeout with 10 seconds remaining. The Flames went to a zone, and Diener shot immediately when no one jumped out at him. "That wasn't what we had in mind, but if someone on our team is going to shoot that deep shot, Drew is the guy," Billikens head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "We were going to try to get the ball to Maurice Jeffers down low. My first thought when he went up to shoot it was that it was a little too early for that shot. "

"Coach told me it's a good thing that I made it," Diener said. "We were looking for Moe down low, because we thought we had a mismatch there."

"Our defense let us down at that point after we had done a pretty good job all game," said UIC head coach Jimmy Collins. "The two guys that we didn't want shooting were Diener and Braun. We were going to front Jeffers to keep him from getting it down on the block."

It was a nip and tuck affair throughout as the Billikens never could build more than a five-point lead. UIC took its last lead at 57-56 on a three-point play by Joel Bullock with 1:34 remaining, but Jeffers knotted it with a free throw at 1:18 to play.

UIC 's three-point threat, Jordan Kardos, had a good look in the Flames last possession with the game tied at 57, but missed. SLU's Justin Tatum blocked Bullock's desperation three as time expired.

Both teams started as cooly as the sub-freezing temperatures outside of the Savvis Center. While the Billikens shot a mere 21.9 percent from the field in the first half, the Flames could only manage 20.7 percent accuracy. While the Billikens got some good looks and just couldn't get the ball to go down, the Flames struggled against the much taller Bills. UC forward Thor Solveson kept his club in the thick of things with a couple of offensive rebound stickbacks, while SLU forward Chris Braun led his club with seven points.

Saint Louis also struggled in the first half with foul trouble. Both center Chris Heinrich and forward Matt Baniak were on the bench within the first five minutes with a pair of fouls each. The Flames out-rebounded the Bills in the first half 29-24, but turned the ball over eight times.

Although he didn't score, Tatum led the Bills with nine rebounds. Jeffers had a game-high six assists to complement seven boards. SLU shot 35.6 percent from the field and 33 percent from three as they won their ninth consecutive home opener.

UIC's Maurice Brown finished with 11 points and 11 boards. Solverson gave the Flames a lift off the bench with 10 points. The Flames shot 35.6 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Bills 47-37.

The Billikens go on the road on Tue., Nov. 21, for a 7 p.m. tip-off at SIU-Carbondale