ROSEMONT, Ill. - Saint Louis senior guard Marque Perry drove the length of the floor for a lay-up with two seconds left to beat DePaul 62-61 in a Conference USA game this afternoon at Allstate Arena. Perry scored the Bills last four points as Saint Louis rallied from a nine-point deficit with nine minutes to play.
"I really don't understand how we won the game, because DePaul was so difficult to stop," said Billikens head coach Marque Perry. He's won games for us in every imaginable way."
When DePaul guard Marlon Brooks knocked down a jumper at the 9:19 mark, the Blue Demons led 54-45 as SLU was suffering through a seven-minute scoreless drought. Senior center Kenny Brown broke the pointless skein with a three throw and a bucket to bring SLU within 54-48 at the 6:16 mark.
That's when Perry went to work. DePaul was unable to stop the Bills' guard off the dribble, and he converted four consecutive free throws as the Bills closed to within 54-52 with 5:14 left.
DePaul's Brooks knocked down a jumper in the lane as the shot clock was running down to restore the Demons' four-point edge. But SLU senior guard Drew Diener drained a triple, and SLU trailed 56-55 at the 4:17 mark.
Diener's brother Drake, DePaul's sophomore guard, responded with a jumper and Demons forward Sam Hoskin dropped in a short jumper, and the Demons appeared to be in control with a 60-55 lead with 3:17 remaining.
After Bills swingman Chris Sloan broke free for a lay-up, the junior was fouled on another bold drive to the rim. Sloan suffered a cramp, and Diener came off the bench to make 1-of-2 free throws. The Bills trailed 60-58 with 2:33 left.
Bills senior forward Chris Braun stripped Hoskin on the ensuing DePaul possession, and Perry stroked a 12-foot jumper off a shake-and-bake move from the right side to knot the game at 60 at the 1:45 mark.
After an empty DePaul possession, Blue Demons guard Quemont Greer fouled Bills guard Josh Fisher near the center stripe, but Fisher missed both tosses. DePaul's Hoskin was fouled, but made only the second of his two free throws. That snapped a string of 38 consecutive made free throws for Hoskin.
That set up Perry's dramatics, and the senior blew past two defenders, took it right to the rim and watched as his lay-up hung tantalizingly on the front iron before falling in. After a DePaul timeout, Perry intercepted the Demons's inbounds pass to prevent any desperation shot.
"I was surprised that they let us roll the ball almost to the timeline before making me pick it up," Perry said. "But once I took it, I knew that we had the floor spread, so I'd be able to get into the lane. There was contact, but I was more concerned about the ball just going in."
"We weren't going to call timeout in that situation and allow DePaul to set their defense," Soderberg said. "Our guys are pretty well drilled in knowing to get wide and let Marque do his thing."
The first half also was a game of runs as DePaul sprinted to a 16-4 lead after Drake Diener buried a trey. The Billikens battled back to trail 22-18 after Izik Ohanon's tip-in. DePaul forward Andre Brown knocked down a free throw to restore an eight-point DePaul lead, but the Bills closed the half with a rush. In a prelude to the end of the game, Perry pushed the ball up the floor with 4.5 seconds remaining and found forward Ross Varner in the left corner. Varner buried a trey as the horn sounded to tie the game at 33 as the Bills finished a 9-1 run.
Saint Louis won a game for the first time this year when its opponent shot better than 50 percent from the field. DePaul (15-9, 6-6) shot 52.3 percent from the field and 72.2 percent from the line. The Demons out-rebounded SLU 30-20 and collected 13 second chance points off 10 offensive rebounds.
Brown topped DePaul with 16 points and 12 boards, while Hoskin finished with 15 points and six boards. Drake Diener tossed in 12 points.
Saint Louis shot 51.1 percent from the floor and survived 56.3 percent shooting from the free throw line. The Bills only committed eight turnovers while recording 17 assists. Perry finished with a game-high 19 points, while Drew Diener chipped in with 10. Freshman guard Anthony Drejaj topped the Bills with seven boards and matched Fisher for the team high with four assists.
On a four-game winning streak, the Billikens (12-12, 6-7) have a week to prepare for Tulane when the Green Wave visits Savvis Center on Sat., March 1, at 1:10 p.m.
