St. Louis--Saint Louis forward Ross Varner drilled a trey with 15 seconds remaining to send the Billikens past Washington 71-70 tonight in a men's non-conference basketball game at Savvis Center. Varner scored all 12 of his points in the second half as the Billikens rallied from a 13-point deficit to post their fourth-straight homecourt victory.
"That was our biggest win of the season for a number of reasons," Billikens head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "A victory like that proves that we can come back to win, which we hadn't done yet. It's also the kind of win that can change a whole season around."
Varner's winner out of the deep right corner came off a feed from junior guard Marque Perry, who had sliced into the middle of the Huskies' defense and drawn defenders to him. Washington swingman Doug Wrenn nailed a 16-foot jumper to give the Huskies a 70-68 advantage with 24 seconds remaining.
"The play was set up for Marque to penetrate and take it if he was open," Varner said. "I just spaced to the corner, and coach said get behind the three-point line. My guy left me, and Marque found me. This is by far the best basket I've ever scored. This was awesome."
The Huskies still had one chance remaining, but guard Curtis Allen couldn't get the ball back to Wrenn, who had scored the last six Huskies points. Allen's 12-foot jumper off the left of the lane was off the mark, and a tip-in attempt went awry as the final horn sounded.
After trailing 34-30 at the half, Washington opened with a 12-0 run to open the second half. When freshman guard Josh Barnard drilled a trey with 7:55 remaining, the Huskies opened their largest lead of the night at 61-58 with 7:55 remaining.
The Billikens shifted to a smaller line-up featuring Varner, Perry, Chris Sloan, Josh Fisher and Jason Edwin and went to fullcourt pressure. That crew ran off 13 unanswered points. Edwin's back-to-back triples pushed the Bills ahead 65-63 with 4:04 remaining.
"Saint Louis did a great job of not panicking, and their pressure caused some turnovers," Huskies head coach Bob Bender said. "They hit some threes. Then it came down to making plays, and they made the last one."
Perry's lay-up at the 3:24 mark gave SLU a 67-64 advantage, but Wrenn answered with back-to-back lay-ins to restore Washington's lead. Perry made one of two free throws with 2:07 left to set up the dramatic ending.
Washington (6-6) lost its fourth-straight game despite shooting 50 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from three-point distance. Wrenn and Allen each had 17 points, while forward Grant Leep finished with 12 and guard Erroll Knight collected 11.
The Billikens shot 44.6 percent from the floor and only 28.6 percent from three. Perry led all scorers with 20 points, while Edwin and Chris Braun each contributed 10.
Saint Louis (6-6) visits Southwest Missouri State on Wed., Jan. 2, before returning to Savvis to open the Conference USA season on Sat., Jan. 5, against Houston.
