CINCINNATI - Saint Louis handed Xavier its first Atlantic 10 Conference loss of the season and snapped the Musketeers' seven-game winning streak with a 59-54 triumph tonight in a men's basketball game at the Cintas Center. The Billikens rallied from an eight-point second half deficit and held Xavier without a field goal in the final 12:35 to pick up its first A-10 road win.

"That was a tremendous defensive effort in the second half, because we again weren't sharp offensively," said Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "This is a tremendous win for this young team to come in to this environment and win against one of the premier teams in this league."

After Xavier guard Dedrick buried a triple at the 18:01 mark of the second half, the Musketeers led 37-29 and seemingly had the game under control. SLU closed quickly as senior guard Anthony Drejaj and sophomore guard Danny Brown sandwiched treys around a Kevin Lisch bucket. Xavier big man Brian Thornton knocked in three free throws to stem the tide, and XU led 42-37 with 14:25 to play.

Xavier had done a good job tying up SLU big man Anthony Drejaj, and the game was tied at 45. Xavier took the lead on guard Stanley Burrell's two free throws, but Vouyoukas dunked again and converted another 3-point play to give SLU the lead for good at 48-47 at the 6:50 mark.

Liddell hit a jumper and rebounded his own miss to push SLU ahead 52-47 with six minutes to play. With another Thornton free throw and two by forward Justin Doellman, Xavier crept within 52-50 with 4:12 remaining. Vouyoukas drained a 12-foot jumper off the left side to push SLU ahead 54-50, but Burrell countered with two more free throws with 1:28 to play. Lisch buried arguably the biggest shot of his career with a 3-pointer with 56 seconds left. Sophomore guard Luke Meyer drilled two free throws with 15 seconds left to seal the upset.

In a back-and-forth first half, the Billikens enjoyed their largest lead at 15-12 when Vouyoukas converted a lay-up after a pretty spin move off the left baseline. The Bills trailed 21-20 with 6:40 to play as Vouyoukas netted the Bills' last bucket of the half. The Musketeers began to take control behind Burrell, who scored 12 first-half points and led a 9-2 run that pushed XU to a 30-22 lead with 2:32 to play. But the SLU defense dug in and didn't allow a basket the remainder of the half. Meanwhile, sophomore center Bryce Husak, sophomore guard Dwayne Polk and senior forward Vas'Shun Newborne each converted 1-and-1 opportunities to pull the Bills to within 30-26 at the break.

Burrell led Xavier (12-3, 3-1) with 16 points, while Thornton chipped in with 12 and Josh Duncan came off the bench to add 10. Xavier shot just 22.7 percent in the second half to finish at 32 percent for the game. The Musketeers shot 29.4 percent from the arc and 85 percent from the free throw line. The point total was Xavier's lowest of the season.

Vouyoukas led SLU with 13 points, while Drejaj was the only other Billiken in double figures with 11 points. Liddell tied for game-high honors with six rebounds. The Bills out-rebounded the Musketeers 30-28 and survived despite 20 turnovers. SLU shot 47.7 percent for the game, the first time in eight games that the Bills shot over 40 percent. The Bills shot 42.9 percent from the arc and 73.3 percent from the free throw line.

Saint Louis (9-8, 3-2) entertains Saint Joseph's at Savvis Center on Wed., Jan. 25, at 7 p.m.