SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Southwest Missouri State clawed its way back from a seven-point second-half deficit to stop Saint Louis 53-50 tonight in a non-conference men's basketball game before 5,802 at Hammons Center. The Billikens struggled offensively as they were without leading scorer Marque Perry, who missed the game with symptoms of a concussion suffered last Saturday vs. Washington.
"Marque means an awful lot to everything we do, but we still had a chance to pull this out," Billikens head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "We weren't able to execute down the stretch and had some mental mistakes that we couldn't afford."
The Billikens ground out a 31-27 halftime lead behind Josh Fisher's 11 points and three treys. SLU enjoyed its largest lead of the first half when Drew Diener's triple gave the Bills a 21-12 edge with 8:14 remaining. The Bears closed within 28-26 on guard Terrance McGee's basket, but Fisher responded with a trey to give the Bills breathing room at the break.
SMS held the Billikens scoreless from the field for the first 5:26 of the second half before Fisher's jumper broke the string. Nevertheless, the Bears were equally inaccurate and couldn't take control. SMS center Mike Wallace gave his club a brief 35-33 lead, but SLU guard Jason Edwin quickly answered with a traditional three-point play.
Saint Louis built its lead to 44-37 with 8:06 remaining, but SMS answered with Robert Yanders' triple and Scott Brakebill's free throws after an SMS steal. The Billikens continued to cling to the lead, but Wallace's three-point play at the 1:12 mark put SMS on top 50-48.
Fisher tied it at 50 with a 15-foot jumper off the left side with 1:03 left, but McGee countered with a lay-up to give SMS a two-point edge with 41 ticks remaining. SLU's Ross Varner attempted a three off an inbounds play, but the shot hit the side of the backboard and the Billikens fouled McGee, who had tracked down the deep rebound.
McGee made only one of two free throws, but the Bears came up with one of their 17 offensive boards to control the ball. The Bills fouled Yanders, but he missed both. Trailing 53-50, the Billikens had one shot to tie. Freshman guard Drew Diener's all alone on the right side, but his shot was long. The rebound scramble went out of bounds to SLU with .09 remaining, and Diener couldn't get a good look on an off-balance shot.
The Billikens limited SMS to 31.5 percent shooting from the field and 21.4 percent from three. The Bears won the game at the free throw line by connecting on 16-of-22. McGee led the Bears with 18 points, while Brakebill finished with 13. Wallace posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards.
Saint Louis shot 37.3 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three, but couldn't get to the line in the second half and finished 6-of-9 from the stripe. The Bills matched their season high with 25 turnovers. Fisher finished with a career-high 15 points. Edwin was the only other Billiken in double figures with 11 points, and center Kenny Brown led the club with eight rebounds.
The Billikens (6-7) open the Conference USA season by hosting Houston at Savvis Center on Sat., Jan. 5, in a 7:10 p.m. tip-off.
