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ST. LOUIS - Saint Joseph's hit its first seven shots of the game and never looked back as the Hawks zoomed past Saint Louis 54-39 tonight in a men's basketball game at Savvis Center. Hawks guards Abdulai Jalloh and Dwayne Lee each scored 12 points as Saint Joseph's recorded back-to-back wins for the first time since its first two games of the season. Meanwhile, Saint Louis' mystifying streak of alternating wins and losses reached 20 games.
"This was as distasteful a loss as I can remember in some time," said Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "We just had a night where everything possible went wrong. We couldn't make shots - and not that we're a great shooting team, but we're not as bad as tonight - and we couldn't get stops."
The torrid-shooting Hawks zipped to a 10-2 lead on swingman Chet Stachitas' threeball just over two minutes into the game. Trailing by as many as 11, the Billikens spurted to within 23-16 on sophomore guard Luke Meyer's trey, but the Bills went on to score only two more points the rest of the half while missing five straight free throws. Sophomore center Bryce Husak's lay-up with 6:06 to play was SLU's last bucket of the half. SJU surged to a 34-19 lead at the break as the Hawks shot 55 percent from the field.
"I thought the way the game started was a good as it could get for us," Hawks coach Phil Martelli said. "When you make shots, it raises everyone's comfort level. I thought Saint Louis looked tired after that win at Xavier, and understand that that win at Xavier is a huge win in this league. They're playing with a lot of young guys, and our three seniors gave us an edge."
SJU opened the second half with two Rob Ferguson free throws and point guard Dwayne Lee's trey to quickly open a 20-point lead. Saint Louis' scoreless stretch reached 12:02 before freshman guard Tommie Liddell converted a traditional 3-point play. The Hawks expanded the lead to as many as 24, and the Bills never got closer than the final margin.
"We just can't afford to come out with any lack of intensity on any night," said SLU senior guard Anthony Drejaj, who finished 0-of-7 from the field. "We need to understand that we need to play tonight and what happened in the last game or what is ahead of us isn't important. Only tonight's game matters."
The Hawks' defense held Billiken scoring leader Ian Vouyoukas to a season-low five points. Vouyoukas didn't attempt a shot in the first half and scored his only basket of the game with 2;25 left to play. Liddell was the Bills' only double-figure scorer with 15 points.
Saint Louis shot only 28.6 percent from the field, 9.5 percent (2-21) from the arc and 65 percent from the free throw line. The Bills were out-rebounded 32-21. It was SLU's lowest point total since scoring 38 against Marquette during the 1999-2000 season.
Stachitas chipped in with 11 points for Saint Joseph's (8-8, 3-4). The Hawks shot 48.5 percent from the field, 30 percent from 3-point range and 79.2 percent from the line.
"We need to get past this quickly, and it could be tough, because as high as this team was on Sunday (after beating Xavier), that's how low they are right now," Soderberg said. "We can't allow this loss to lead to another one Saturday against Fordham."
Saint Louis (9-9, 3-3) entertains Fordham at Savvis Center on Sat., Jan. 28, at 7 p.m.
