AP Photo Gallery 
ST. LOUIS - Senior center Ian Vouyoukas' (Athens, Greece) tip-in with one-tenth of a second left delivered a 51-50 Saint Louis victory over Missouri State on Monday. The Billikens, who went through a 10-minute scoreless stretch in the first half, clawed back from an 11-point second-half deficit to post the thrilling victory in front of 10,448 at Scottrade Center. Sophomore guard Kevin Lisch (Belleville, Ill./Althoff), who played with a bandaged shooting hand after suffering a laceration in SLU's previous game, poured in a team-high 15 points for the Bills.
Trailing by three with under a minute left in the game, junior forward Luke Meyer (Washington, Mo./Borgia) ran the baseline and connected on a layup to pull with the Billikens to within one with 44 seconds left. On the other end of the floor, Meyer corralled a Nathan Bilyeu jumper off the glass to start the game-ending sequence. With time winding down, Lisch got the first crack at the go-ahead bucket, but it bounced off the iron and found fellow sophomore guard Tommie Liddell (East St. Louis, Mo./Hargrave Academy). Liddell put up a mid-range jumper, which fell short, but Vouyoukas was there for the tip-in. The officials originally deemed that the bucket came after the horn, but after video replays clearly showed that the ball left Vouyoukas' hand with time still left on the clock, SLU was able to celebrate with the one-point victory and improve to 9-2 overall. It is the best start for the Billikens since the 1994-95 squad started with the same mark. Missouri State dips to 9-2 with the loss.
The Billikens rallied to a 10-2 lead through the first four and a half minutes thanks to jumpers from Dwayne Polk (St. Louis, Mo./Vashon), Vouyoukas and Lisch. Lisch and Liddell provided the highlight of the night on an alley-oop, which Lisch threw in to the far side to a sailing Liddell who slamed it home. But from that point, SLU went scoreless for over a 10-minute span and allowed Missouri State to take a four-point lead with 9:39 remaining in the half. The score was knotted at 25 with a minute left, but a 3-point bucket from Spencer Laurie and a Laurie layup as time expired in the frame sent the Bears to the locker room with a five-point advantage.
The Billikens pulled to within three in the early portion of the second stanza, but another Laurie 3-pointer gave the Bears a six-point lead at 34-28 with 16:16 to go. Efficient free throw shooting from Bilyeu and a couple of buckets from Dale Lamberth gave the Bears an 11-point lead with 9:29 to go. But the Bears would only hit one more field goal the rest of the way, and the Billikens took advantage.
Two fast-break buckets from Polk pulled the Billikens to within three with just under five minutes left. Three straight points from Lisch countered a Lamberth bucket and Bilyeu free throws, and allowed for Meyer's baseline runner and Vouyoukas' heroics at the end.
Lisch earned his 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Vouyoukas hit 5-of-8 from the floor for 13 points to match his six boards. Liddell hauled in a team-leading nine rebounds, including several in the final minutes off Missouri State misses on one-and-ones.
Blake Ahearn, MSU's leading scorer, was held scoreless (0-for-4) for the first time this season after stifling defense from Polk. Deven Mitchell led MSU with 15 points off the bench, and Bilyeu chipped in 11 points thanks to one field goal and a nine-of-10 mark from the line.
The Billikens return to Scottrade Center on Fri., Dec. 22, for a date with No. 2 North Carolina. Tip-off is now slated for 6 p.m., a change from the original schedule.
