Dayton snapped Saint Louis' three-game winning streak by holding off a Billikens' second-half rally for a 69-63 victory tonight in a non-conference men's basketball game before a holiday crowd of 12,237 at UD Arena. Billiken junior guard Marque Perry poured in a game high 21 points, but SLU saw its three-game winning streak snapped.

"Dayton does a tremendous job of dictating tempo," Billikens head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "They get the game played the way they want, and they're successful because of that. They are as well-coached as any team we've played so far."

The Billikens were in the game early on the strength of sophomore guard Jason Edwin's eight first-half points. Edwin's dunk at the 8:35 mark put the Bills up 19-13. But Saint Louis suffered through a nearly six-minute dry spell as the Flyers ran off 16 unanswered points. Junior forward Chris Braun's trey stopped the run with 2:40 to play, but the Dayton cruised into the break with a 37-24 advantage by turning 14 SLU turnovers into 14 points.

The Flyers quickly expanded that lead to 47-25 on Ramod Marshall's triple at the 16:35 mark, but the Billikens slowly began to chip away. Saint Louis answered with a 10-2 run capped by Edwin's bucket to cut the margin to 14 with 14:10 to play.

Sophomore swingman Chris Sloan's fastbreak lay-up off a pretty feed from freshman guard Randy Pulley sliced the lead to 10 with 8:44 remaining. Perry's traditional three-point play at the 7:54 mark brought the Bills within 54-47.

The Billikens hit another drought of nearly four minutes before Edwin's jumper once again made it a 10-point margin with 3:56 remaining. The Flyers made just enough free throws down the stretch to hang on despite sophomore forward Ross Varner's two triples in the last minute. His last trey made it a 66-61 game, but the Bills ran out of time.

Dayton (7-3) posted its fourth-straight win by shooting 43.8 percent from the floor. Forward Brooks Hall topped the Flyers with 16 points. Reserve guard D.J. Skelly scored 10 of his 11 points in the first half. Marshall finished with 10 points.

The Billikens shot 41.1 percent from the floor and 47.1 percent from three, but were hurt by 56.3 percent (9-16) marksmanship from the free throw line. The Bills tightened up their offense in the second half with eight assists and only two turnovers. The Billikens played throughout the second half in foul trouble as Sloan, Pulley and Brown all fouled out, and Varner finished with four personals.

Edwin matched his career high with 14 points. Junior center Kenny Brown led the club with seven boards. The Billikens (5-6) return to Savvis Center on Sat., Dec. 29, at 7 p.m. to host Washington.