ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis senior forward Chris Sloan's 18 points led four Billikens in double figures as SLU knocked off USF 70-52 this afternoon in a Conference USA men's basketball game before 9,601 fans at Savvis Center. Billikens senior guard Josh Fisher flirted with a triple-double with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

"That was a really solid win and very satisfying," said Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "We were efficient on the offensive side. We were stingy defensively. We played well offensively without getting the best game out of our leading scorer."

Sloan led Saint Louis to its sixth win in its last seven games as he made his first five shots to ignite SLU from a 16-15 first-half deficit. Sloan's trey gave the Bills the lead for good as SLU went on an 11-2 run to take charge. The Bills led 34-26 at the break.

Already short-handed playing with only seven scholarship players, USF appeared to be in deep trouble when point guard Brian Swift, who had all 10 of his points in the first half, went down with a sprained ankle just before the half. Swift returned for the second half, but wasn't nearly as effective.

Saint Louis maintained a 9-to-12 point margin throughout the early stages of the second half, but finally began to pull away. Fisher's trey at the 8:51 mark put the Bills on top 51-37, and SLU enjoyed its biggest margin of the game at 68-44 on Justin Johnson's jumper with 3:52 left.

"Saint Louis is a team that when you fall behind by 8-to-10 points, it becomes very difficult to come back," said USF coach Robert McCullum. "Saint Louis is playing really well. They did a good job of executing their motion offense, which they usually do."

The Billikens limited the Bulls to 38.5 percent shooting from the field, 30.8 percent from three and the Bulls hurt themselves by shooting 53.3 percent from the line. Forward Terrence Leather led USF (6-7, 0-2) with 12 points and eight rebounds.

"Josh Fisher line was really tremendous, because he nearly had a triple-double and didn't have a turnover," Soderberg said. "Plus, he held their leading scorer to nine. Josh is something special and a great player. When he's making threes, he's a handful."

Billiken leading scorer Reggie Bryant finished with 17 points, and junior center Tom Frericks chipped in with 11. The Bills shot 44.6 percent from the floor, 41.2 percent from three and 72.2 percent from the line. The Bills handed out 18 assists and had only seven turnovers.

Saint Louis (10-5, 3-1) completes its three-game C-USA homestand Sat., Jan. 24, when the Billikens entertain East Carolina at 1:10 p.m.