ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis senior guard Marque Perry tossed in a career-high 28 points to lift the Billikens past DePaul 65-57 in a Conference USA game tonight at Savvis Center. Perry scored the Bills' last 16 points and drilled 13-of-14 free throws in the final 3:47.
"My teammates count on me late in the game, and I don't mind having the ball in my hands in those late situations," Perry said. "We'd like to avoid having to make free throws to end the game like that, but I try to do whatever we need to do to win the game."
Saint Louis won for only the second time this year after trailing at the half. DePaul closed the first session with a 10-2 run to take a 23-22 halftime edge. The Blue Demons opened the second half with a pair of Delonte Holland jumpers and gained their largest lead of the night at 27-22.
After a quick SLU timeout, Perry made back-to-back lay-ups to jump-start the Billiken offense. But DePaul kept the Billikens at arm's length until Drew Diener buried back-to-back triples to lift the Bills in front 41-39 with 10:25 to play. That gave Saint Louis the lead for good, and SLU widened it to 56-49 on Perry's trey at the 1:26 mark.
In desperate straits, DePaul was forced to foul, but couldn't keep the ball away from Perry, who routinely drained one free toss after another.
"Good players take over when the game's on the line, and Perry did that tonight," said DePaul head coach Dave Leitao.
For the first time in his career, Billiken junior forward Chris Sloan reached double figures with 13 points. He also knocked down three treys. "I'll always be known for my defense," Sloan said. "But I'm confident, being more aggressive, and the shots are going down."
"Chris has been on a three-game run that's been phenomenal," Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg said. "He always gives us energy at the defensive end, but when he's making shots, that really provides a boost."
DePaul (11-7, 3-4) shot 45.5 percent from the field, 16.7 percent from three and 80 percent from the free throw line. Although the Blue Demons controlled the boards with a 30-22 advantage, DPU coughed up 13 turnovers. Holland and center Sam Hoskin each popped in 16 to lead the Demons. Andre Brown finished with a game-high eight boards.
The Bills shot 48.8 percent from the floor, 47.4 percent from the arc and 73.7 percent from the line. After committing 17 turnovers in a loss at Charlotte on Wednesday, the Bills took much better care of the ball and turned it over only eight times. Freshman guard Anthony Drejaj and Perry each had four assists, while senior forward Chris Braun topped SLU in rebounds with five.
The Billikens (8-10, 2-5) begin a two-game road trip next week by traveling to 16th-ranked Marquette on Wed., Feb. 5, for an 8 p.m. tip-off.
