PITTSBURGH - Saint Louis freshman guard Tommie Liddell posted a near triple-double as the Billikens handled Duquesne70-57 in an Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball game at the A.J. Palumbo Center. Liddell scored 12 points, collected a career-high 13 rebounds and handed out a game-high eight assists.

"I've said since the beginning of the season that Tommie has a tremendous feel for the game, and that was on display tonight," said Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "He knows when to push it, when to slow it down when to reset his team and is so tremendously poised."

The Billikens enjoyed one of their best offensive first-halves of the season by scoring 39 points, which they had accomplished twice previously. After trailing 4-2, SLU slowly but surely took control of the game. Freshman guard Kevin Lisch buried a pull-up jumper to give the Bills their first double-digit lead at 21-10. Junior center Ian Vouyoukas scored 13 of his 19 points in the first half and gave SLU a 30-17 edge with a pair of free throws. The Bills had the last possession of the half, and senior guard Anthony Drejaj buried a threeball out of the left corner as the horn sounded to give SLU a 39-25 lead at the break.

The Bills pushed the lead to as many as 20 in the second half as Liddell assumed control of the game. He threw down a flying tomahawk slam off a pretty drop feed from Dwayne Polk on a 2-on-1 break as SLU led 51-35. After another Liddell lay-up put SLU on top 55-35, the Bills hit a six-minute drought that allowed Duquesne to climb back in the game as A-10 scoring leader Bryant McAllister began to heat up, and the Bills free throw shooting (1-7 during the rally) began to fail them. After Dukes forward Chauncey Duke slipped in a lay-up, Duquesne trailed only 57-51 with 6:18 remaining. But after a Bills timeout, Lisch drained a triple out of the right corner, and the Bills never let the Dukes get closer than seven. Liddell threw down another breakaway slam as the Bills built the margin to 68-55 at the 3:01 mark, and SLU closed the game out uneventfully.

McAllister led all scorers with 20 points, but Duquesne (3-20, 1-11) did not have another player in double figures. The Dukes shot 39.6 percent from the field, 25 percent from the 3-point line and 100 percent from the arc.

Vouyoukas topped the Bills with 19 points, while Lisch finished with 13. The Bills had 19 assists and only nine turnovers while out-rebounding the Dukes 37-24. SLU shot 48.1 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from the arc and 59.1 percent from the line.

Saint Louis (13-10, 7-4) hosts Temple on Sat., Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. (CT).