ST. LOUIS - DePaul rallied from a 21-point first half deficit to knock off Saint Louis 70-68 tonight in a Conference USA men's basketball game before 9,148 fans at Savvis Center. DePaul won its fourth straight and handed the Billikens their fourth straight loss.

"DePaul played a great second half, showed a lot of toughness and a lot of poise," Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "We're disappointed with the way we defended in the second half. We just can't seem to get all the holes plugged on the same day."

The Billikens came out firing on all cylinders and jumped to a 14-2 lead. SLU kept the pressure on and pushed its advantage to 38-17 on sophomore guard Anthony Drejaj's trey at the 4:11 mark. But DePaul closed the half with a 10-1 run to pull within 39-27 at the break.

"We're elated with the work that our guys put in, especially in the second half with what they did at both ends of the floor," DePaul head coach Dave Leitao said. "We were really loose in the first half defensively, and they attacked us, got a bunch of open shots and made threes. I thought we were in trouble."

The Billikens still led 47-37 after another Drejaj triple at the 13:49 mark, but the Blue Demons went on another 12-2 run and tied the game at 49 on forward Delonte Holland's jumper with 9:07 to play. The Bills reclaimed the lead on Reggie Bryant's threeball and stretched the lead to 55-51 on freshman center Ian Vouyoukas' traditional three-point play with 6:25 left.

Guard Drake Diener gave DePaul its first lead 60-59 with a trey at the 3:40 mark, but Drejaj answered with his fourth triple of the game. Diener answered with a traditional three-point play. SLU center Tom Frericks scored on an offensive rebound, and the Bills led 64-63 with 2:16.

But the Billikens' defense just couldn't get any stops as the Blue Demons shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half and drilled 10-of-11 free throws. On the ensuring DePaul possession, Billikens forward Chris Sloan took the charge on the Demons' Holland, but was called for a block. Holland buried both free throws.

Trailing 65-64, the Bills cleared the right side for Bryant, who was fouled going to the basket. An 80 percent free throw shooter, Bryant, who earlier in the game missed two tosses and finished 3-of-6 from the line for the night, made only one of two to tie the game at 65 with 42 ticks remaining.

The Bills again fouled Holland as he drove the lane with 22 seconds left, and C-USA's second-leading scorer knocked in both for a 67-65 edge. SLU came up empty on its next possession, and then fouled Andre Brown who made another two tosses for a 69-65 lead with 12 seconds remaining.

The Bills weren't done as Sloan converted a traditional three-point play with seven seconds left. SLU trailed by one and fouled Holland quickly. The Blue Demons' forward only made one, leaving the door open. Fisher drove down the left sideline and found Sloan in the lane for a six-foot shot. DePaul's Brown blocked it, but left Sloan and the Billikens' bench looking for a foul call that wasn't forthcoming as the clock ran out.

"In a two-point game, there's lots of different things that happen - we missed some free throws and our defense let us down," Soderberg said. "If we don't defend well, we're in for long nights."

DePaul (14-7, 7-3) shot 50 percent from the field, 58.3 percent from three and 83.3 percent from the free throw line. Holland led four Demons in double figures with 17 points. Forward Quemont Greer and Diener each chipped in with 14, and point guard Sammy Mejia chimed in with 11.

DePaul's Brown led all rebounders with 10, and spearheaded a huge 36-18 advantage on the glass. The Blue Demons converted 11 offensive rebounds into 14 second chance points.

Senior guard Josh Fisher led four Bills in double figures with 13 points, but all came in the first half. Bryant and Drejaj each had 12 points, while Frericks added 11. The Bills shot only 37 percent from the floor in the second half to finish at 46.2 percent for the game and shot 66.7 percent from threeland, but only 67 percent from the stripe. After struggling with turnovers in their three-game road losing streak, the Bills had only two turnovers while piling up a season-high 19 assists.

Saint Louis (11-9, 4-5) continues its three-game homestand by hosting Charlotte at Savvis Center on Sat., Feb. 14, in a noon tip-off.