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ST. LOUIS -Saint Louis junior center Ian Vouyoukas posted his first career double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds as the Billikens smothered Southern Illinois 56-42 in a non-conference basketball game tonight at Savvis Center. Guards Dwayne Polk and Kevin Lisch combined to limit Salukis scoring leader Jamal Tatum 10 points below his averaged as the Bills pushed their record to 2-1.
"That was an important win for us tonight for a variety of reasons," Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg said. "It was an important regional game against an SIU team that we played poorly against last year. We needed to bounce back from a bad defensive game at Hawaii. With four of our next five on the road, we needed something to build on, and we got all three."
With Vouyoukas dominating early and scoring 13 of his points in the first half, Saint Louis jumped to a 19-6 lead. But the Salukis responded with an 8-0 run when Vouyoukas went to the bench for a breather. SLU still carried a 23-19 lead to the intermission as the Salukis suffered through 32.1 percent shooting and committed 11 turnovers in the opening half.
"That's the kind of performance that we expect from Ian, and he's readily accepted the challenge," Soderberg said. "What I need to do now is better X-and-O for my squad, so we can make people pay for the double teams that are sure to be coming."
SIUC sophomore forward Matt Shaw closed the gap to 23-22 with three free throws to open the second half, but the Billikens never surrendered the lead. After Vouyoukas got a lay-up off Polk's pretty interior dish, senior forward Vas`Shun Newborne knocked down an open 18-footer. Newborne enjoyed one of the best games of his career with seven points and three boards in just 20 minutes.
When Vouyoukas drained a pair of free throws with 6:20 remaining, SLU led 44-34, and the Bills maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game. Vouyoukas finished 7-10 from the line.
Tatum came in averaging 21.8 points per game and led the Salukis with 11 points, but he was 4-17 from the field and 0-5 from the arc. He was the only Saluki in double figures. SIUC shots 28.3 percent from the field, 11.8 percent from deep and 66.7 percent from the line. Sophomore forward Randal Falker topped the Salukis with 10 rebounds as SIUC won the battle of the boards 37-34. The Salukis had only seven assists opposed to 17 turnovers.
"We can't say enough about the defensive effort by Dwayne and Kevin on Tatum, because he can score," Soderberg said. "They pretty much stayed in front of him all night and made it difficult for him."
"Saint Louis plays smash-mouth basketball, and they roughed him (Tatum) up," Salukis coach Chris Lowery said. "We lack toughness right now, and that's something we need to correct soon."
Senior guard Kevin Lisch had 10 points off the bench as he went 3-3 from the floor and 3-4 from the line. SLU shot 46.2 percent from the floor, 23.1 percent from the arc and 63 percent from the free throw line. Polk had a game-high four assists and only one turnover.
The Billikens travel to UW-Milwaukee on Sat., Dec. 3, for an 8 p.m. tip. SLU returns to Savvis on Mon., Dec. 5, to face Jackson State at 7 p.m.
