St. LOUIS - Saint Louis snapped a seven-game losing streak to Marquette with a 58-54 triumph tonight in a Conference USA men's basketball game before 10,572 fans at Savvis Center. The Billikens (13-9, 6-5) extended Marquette's losing streak to four and survived a 26-point effort from Golden Eagles guard Travis Diener.
"That was a satisfying win, because it's been a while since SlU's beaten Marquette, so that's a monkey off our back," Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "I'm so happy that we won, because of the tremendous game that Travis Diener played."
Marquette jumped on top 12-2 to start the game, but Saint Louis gamely climbed back into it and trailed 29-25 at the half. SLU began the second half by scoring the first eight points, sparked by senior forward Chris Sloan's steal and lay-up that led to an intentional foul. Leading 33-29 and with possession, senior guard Josh Fisher missed an open trey that could've expanded the lead. Diener fired back with a trey of his own leading to a 7-0 Marquette run.
The Golden Eagles expanded the lead to 41-35 on Todd Townsend's triple and still led 43-37 with 12:40 to play before the Billikens began to make their move. SLU junior center Tom Frericks tied the game with a lay-up at the 9:52 mark.
Fisher gave the Bills a 49-45 lead with a traditional three-point play on a drive to the left of the goal, and it looked as if SLU was ready to expand the lead when junior guard Reggie Bryant hoisted a trey off a fast break, but was called for a travel.
Marquette again climbed back as Diener drained two free throws for a 51-50 advantage at the 2:44 mark, but SLU sophomore guard Anthony Drejaj countered the Golden Eagles' zone with a bomb out of the deep right corner to put the Bills on top 53-51. MU three-point specialist Steve Novak nailed his only threeball of the game as the Eagles slipped ahead 54-53 with 43 ticks left.
Marquette attempted to trap Fisher in the forecourt, but Diener was tagged with a foul. Fisher calmly dropped in both tosses to give SLU the lead for good 55-54. After Novak missed another threeball, Billiken junior forward Izik Ohanon grabbed the rebound and was tied up by MU's Scott Merritt, but a foul on Merritt was vigorously protested by the Marquette bench.
Ohanon made only one of two tosses to lift SLU to a 56-54 lead with 16 seconds left. Novak missed a three for the win, and Ohanon was fouled again with four seconds left. This time, he drilled both and SLU walked away with the win.
"We have every reason to lose the game - missed free throws, Reggie goes 4-for-18, Tom goes 1-for-8 from the line, gave up some crucial offensive rebounds - and yet some how, we found a way," Soderberg said. "We defended in the last 10 minutes about as well as we can defend, and that's why we got the victory."
Marquette (13-9, 4-7) shot 36.7 percent from the field, 35.3 percent from three and 66.7 percent from the free throw line, but did not have another player in double figures besides Diener.
Sloan led the Bills with 13 points, while Ohanon added 11. The Bills shot 34.4 percent from the field, 15.8 percent from three and 60 percent from the free throw line.
Saint Louis begins a three-game road trip at DePaul on Sat., Feb. 21, in a 1 p.m. tip-off.
