Nov. 14, 2005

Final Stats

St. Louis - Maryville University scored the first basket, but Saint Louis responded with a 22-2 run and coasted past the Saints 81-52 in a men's exhibition basketball game tonight at Savvis Center. Guard Tommie Liddell led six Billikens in double figures with 15 points.

"We got through the exhibition part of the schedule with what we wanted, a couple wins and no injuries," Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg said. "I like these kind of preseason games against the local schools. I think it's good for their program, it's good for ours and it reminds our players that there are other elements of college basketball besides Division I.

An NCAA Division III institution, Maryville got the first bucket of the game from guard Ryan Klein, but the Billikens ran off the next 11 points. Junior center Ian Vouyoukas scored a traditional three-point play, and the Bills got back-to-back lay-ups from Anthony Drejaj and Dwayne Polk on steals off fullcourt pressure. Sophomore swingman Danny Brown tossed in another lay-up to complete the run. After Saints forward Jason Rezabek dropped in a lay-up, Vouyoukas scored five straight points to spark a 13-0 run and the game was quickly out of the Saints' reach. SLU led at halftime 51-30 and led by as many as 37 in the second half before Soderberg emptied his bench.

The Billikens shot 48.5 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from the free throw line. SLU was 0-13 from the arc. The Bills out-rebounded the Saints 55-46. A messy game featured 51 turnovers as the Saints turned it over 27 times, and the Billikens handed it back 24 times. The Saints shot 26 percent from the floor.

Vouyoukas finished with 13 points in just 13 minutes, while freshman guard Kevin Lisch tallied 12. Brown, Justin Johnson and Vas'Shun Newborne each had 10 points. Liddell and sophomore center Bryce Husak tied for team-high honors with seven rebounds. Liddell also topped the club with five assists. Polk had a game-high four steals.

The Billikens open the regular season against Eastern Illinois at the St. Charles Family Arena on Tue., Nov. 22, for a 7 p.m. tip-off.