Southern Miss forward Kilavorus Thompson drilled an 16-foot jumper with four seconds remaining as the Golden Eagles rallied past Saint Louis 69-67 tonight in a Conference USA men's basketball game before a paid crowd of 13,797 at Savvis Center. The Eagles (18-7, 8-5) rallied from a 10-point second half deficit to grab their second straight road win.
"We made errors at both ends of the floor down the stretch that hurt us," Billikens head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "When you get two of the best defensive teams in Conference USA together, the type of game that we had tonight is what's to be expected. "
After leading by two at halftime, the Billikens jumped on top quickly by seven as Marque Perry had a pair of baskets, while Maurice Jeffers and Matt Baniak each had lay-ups. The Bills held their first 10-point advantage on Floyd McClain's jumper off the left baseline with 11:36 remaining. Justin Tatum tossed in a short shot with 10:05 left, and SLU led 50-40.
At this point, the Billikens' offense began to unravel as they suffered 10 second half turnovers, many of which were unforced mistakes, on their way to 18 for the game. The Golden Eagles capped a 15-4 run when swingman David Wall stole a pass and laid it in for a 55-54 advantage with 4:32 to play. The Eagles appeared to be home free when guard Brad Richardson drained a trey with 1:17 left to give USM a 62-58 edge.
After an empty SLU possession, Southern Miss inbounded from their offensive baseline, but Jeffers stole the ball and Perry flipped in a driving bank shot high off the glass to bring the Bills back within two.
USM's Pete Meneses came in cold off the bench and drilled pair of free throws with 32 seconds remaining after Chris Heinrich's hard foul on Wall. Perry answered again with another full court dash and spectacular lay-in at the 28 second mark. USM's Richardson popped in another pair of tosses with 27 ticks left, but Billiken forward Chris Braun drilled a triple with 23 seconds left to bring SLU within 66-65.
Thompson made only one of two free throws with 22 seconds left opening the door for the Bills. When Perry was fouled on another foray to the goal, he knocked down a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left to tie it at 67.
USM had a time-out, but chose not to use it. When the Billiken defense sagged to protect against penetration, Thompson caught nothing but net with his 16-footer. Perry had four seconds to get up the floor, but was forced to alter his course when he was bumped in the backcourt. He had a decent look at a deep three that was on target, but it hit the back iron and bounced away.
It was the third time this season that the Billikens had let substantial second-half leads slip away in losses at Savvis Center. "We seem to lose concentration defensively," Perry said. "That seems to be the only thing that's consistent about those losses."
The Billikens shot 45.5 percent from the field and limited USM to 38.2 percent. The Bills also out-rebounded the Eagles 40-32. As a result, it became the first time this year that the Bills both out-shot and out-rebounded their opponents, but lost.
Perry led the Bills with 16 points, while Jeffers had another solid all-around effort with 15 points, a team-high seven boards, four assists and a game-high four steals.
Thompson topped the Eagles with 18, while Wall added 10 and Richardson chipped in with 13 off the bench.
The Billikens (13-11, 5-6) begin a two-game road trip Monday night in Houston before traveling to Cincinnati on Wednesday.
