ST. LOUIS - Senior forward Izik Ohanon poured in a career-high 26 points as Saint Louis shocked Memphis 70-61 tonight in a Conference USA men's basketball game at Savvis Center. The Billikens celebrated Senior Night by clinching a berth in the C-USA Tournament next week in Memphis.
"With all the close losses, I was worried about how we'd play, but we played very hard and defended very well," Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "Izik played well at both ends of the floor. You can see how his play has improved over the last three years in front of our very eyes."
Saint Louis stormed to a 15-2 lead as Ohanon and sophomore center Ian Vouyoukas combined for the Bills first 12 points. Freshman guard Danny Brown completed the run with a traditional three-point play. After Memphis closed back to within 18-13, junior forward Vas'Shun Newborne buried a trey and the Bills again rushed to a 28-15 advantage. Neither team could get much going offensively in the late stages of the half, and SLU still carried a 28-19 lead to the break.
The Billikens built their largest lead at 41-25 on freshman guard Luke Meyer's triple out of the right corner, but SLU couldn't put the Tigers away as faulty free throw shooting plagued them. The Bills repelled several Tiger thrusts, but never allowed the lead to shrink to less than eight until less than two minutes remained.
The Bills made 16 of 24 free throws in the final 2:35 as Memphis vainly fouled and hurried threeballs. Tigers guard Rodney Carney nailed two treys in the late going, and guard Anthony Rice added another, but could only get as close as six with nine seconds left.
Memphis (16-13, 9-6) fell out of the hunt for a first-round bye in the C-USA postseason tourney with the loss. Carney topped Memphis with 19 points, Rice added 16 and guard Darius Washington tossed in 12. The Tigers shot 35.4 percent from the field, 31 percent from the arc and 66.7 percent from the stripe. Memphis had only seven assists against 15 turnovers.
"For Brad to have his team play the way they did today under the circumstances of losing so many close games, that was incredible," Memphis coach John Calipari said. "They beat us to every ball, out-toughed us, set better screens, were stronger with the ball, had better shot selection - just played better."
Ohanon posted his third double-double of the season with a game-high 10 boards. SLU shot 43.8 percent from the floor, 25 percent from the arc and 66.7 percent from the line. Vouyoukas chipped in with 13 points and seven boards. Brown came off the bench to contribute 10 points. The Bills out-rebounded the Tigers 41-36.
The Billikens (8-20, 5-10) complete their regular season at Marquette on Sat., Mar. 5, with a noon start at the Bradley Center.
