ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis overcame a two-point halftime deficit and defeated Western Illinois 71-61 Saturday afternoon at the Scottrade Center. Sophomore guard Tommie Liddell (East St. Louis, Ill./Hargrave Academy) put in 12 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, and junior forward Luke Meyer (Washington, Mo./Borgia) netted 10 as the Billikens improve to 6-2 overall.
Saint Louis opened up an 11-5 lead to begin the game, but Western Illinois (3-6) responded with a 10-2 run and took a two-point lead 10 minutes into the contest. A Mahamoud Diakite jumper sparked the rally, which included 3-balls from David Jackson and Diakite. Junior swingman Danny Brown (Houston, Texas) ended the rally with a 3-ball from the top of the key at the 7:34 mark, which ended up being SLU's only field goal during a six-minute span in the middle of the first half.
Freshman forward Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) netted his first collegiate points on a jumper at the 5:11 mark to give the Bills a three-point advantage, but WIU responded with a 3-ball from Chris Gonzalez and a couple of free throws from Sammy Hunter to regain a lead it would protect the rest of the half. Jerryck Owens-Murrey put in a game-high nine points in the first frame, and Hunter's coast-to-coast layin at the horn gave him eight points. Junior guard Dwayne Polk (St. Louis, Mo./Vashon) led the Billikens with seven first-half points.
Meyer scored four-straight points for the Billikens at the beginning of the second half as SLU regained the lead early into the second session. Senior forward Justin Johnson (Merrillville, Ind./Merrillville) gave the rejuvenated Billikens a 44-38 advantage when he nailed a jumper and buried a couple of free throws, but WIU was able to claw back into the game thanks to three-consecutive 3-balls, two of which came out of the hands of Chris Gonzalez. A Troy Okeson 3-pointer at the 10:20 mark tied the game 44-44, and that is when SLU stood up and took control of the game.
What followed was a 11-0 Billiken run, which included two fast-break layins from Liddell, as SLU eked out a 55-44 lead with 6:29 left. Down the stretch, SLU hit 16 of its last 18 attempts from the charity stripe as the Billiken lead lingered around double digits during the final five minutes of play.
Liddell hit 5-of-13 from the field and 7-of-10 from the line to account for his 17 points. Meyer was 3-of-8 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line for his 10 points. Senior center Ian Vouyoukas (Athens, Greece) pulled down a game-high nine boards and chipped in with eight points. Johnson hit 3-of-5 attempts from the field for eight points as well. As a team, SLU posted a season-high with 13 steals and shot 38 percent from the field, 17 percent from 3-point range and 74 percent from the line.
WIU was doomed by 23 turnovers, which resulted in 21 points for the Billikens on the other end. Gonzalez' 14 points led three Leathernecks in double figures. Overall, WIU shot 41 percent from the field, 36 percent from beyond the arc and 73 percent from the line.
SLU faces its final non-conference road test on Tue., Dec. 12, against Pacific. Tip-off in Stockton, Calif., is slated for 9 p.m. (CT).
