GREENVILLE, N.C. - Saint Louis senior guard Marque Perry and freshman guard Anthony Drejaj split 30 points as the Billikens closed their regular season with a 58-48 triumph over East Carolina in a Conference USA game this afternoon at Minges Coliseum. The Billikens stretched their season-best winning streak to seven. Which is their best run since the 1997-98 team opened with an 8-0 mark.
"This was a great team win for us, because we got a lift from everyone off the bench," said Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "We got through foul trouble and a tough shooting night for Marque to get the victory."
Saint Louis scored the first seven points of the game and controlled the first half by limiting the Pirates to 30.4 percent from the field. SLU enjoyed its largest lead at 23-12 on Chris Sloan's free throw at the 5:40 mark. ECU cut the lead to 29-23 on forward Gabriel Milulas' free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining.
The Pirates scored the first four points of the second half and continued to put pressure on the Bills. Pirate forward Erroyl Bing tied the game for the first time with a lay-up with13:40 to play. ECU took its first lead shortly thereafter on center Mousa Badiane's free throw and enjoyed its biggest lead at 44-41 after Mikulas' traditional three-point play at the 8:17 mark.
After Perry knocked in two free throws to pull the Bills within on, Drejaj knocked in a trey to put the Bills on top 46-44 with 6:01 left. After Mikulas tied the game with a pair of tosses, Bills senior center Kenny Brown answered with a pair of his own to put the Bills up for good. That sparked a 10-2 Billiken run to close the game.
Drejaj knocked down another triple from the deep left corner as the shot rimmed off the front, hit the backboard and dropped back through. The Bills led 51-46 with 3:15 to play. Guard Josh Fisher buried 12-foot jumper off the left wing to essentially wrap it up, and Perry added the final points with four free throws.
Perry suffered through a 2-14 shooting day, but knocked down all 11 of his free throws and led the club with seven boards.. Drejaj connected on 6-of-9 shots including 3-of-6 treys.
"East Carolina did a nice job of getting multiple defenders to make Marque work for his shots, and he didn't seem to get too many bounces today," Soderberg said. "But the free throws were vintage Marque."
East Carolina (12-15, 3-13) shot 31.3 percent from the field, 16.7 percent from the field and 84.2 percent from the field. ECU had a 35-29 edge on the glass and allowed the Bills only one offensive rebound. Junior guard Derrick Wiley led the Pirates with 16 points, while Bing finished with 10. Badiane had a game-high 10 boards.
Saint Louis shot 41.3 percent from the floor, 35.7 percent from three and 71.4 percent from the free throw line. Fisher topped the Bills with four assists despite playing only 21 minutes with foul trouble.
Saint Louis (15-12, 9-7) awaits the match-ups for the C-USA postseason tournament that begins on Wed., Mar. 12, at Louisville's Freedom Hall.
