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ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis held off a furious late Temple rally to beat the Owls 56-51 tonight in an Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball game at Savvis Center. Freshman guard Kevin Lisch led the Bills with a career-high 22 points, while fellow frosh guard Tommie Liddell provided a game-high 12 boards and a key late bucket off an offensive rebound.

"We showed some mental toughness down the stretch, because we didn't give up the lead when we were challenged," said Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg. "I'm usually upset when we turn it over 23 times, but Temple does that to many teams, and our defense was good enough for us to survive it."

The Billikens jumped on top 5-0 to start the game as Liddell knocked down a shot and Lisch drilled a threeball. In a rugged first 20 minutes that saw Liddell go to the bench with two fouls just eight minutes into the game, SLU led by as many as nine. Senior guard Anthony Drejaj buried a trey to give the Bills a 16-7 edge at the 9:39 mark. Owls guard Mark Tyndale scored 13 of his game-high 23 points in the first half to keep Temple close. After Owls center Wayne Marshall connected on a leaner from the right of the lane, Temple closed to within 20-17, but Lisch capped a 6-1 run to push the lead to eight. SLU junior center Ian Vouyoukas connected on two free throws to close the scoring as the Bills led 28-23 at the break.

Saint Louis took command of the game early in the second half by opening with a 7-0 run as Lisch sandwiched a triple and a lay-up between a Liddell jumper. The Bills held Temple without a field goal for the 7:41 of the second stanza. SLU still had a 40-28 lead after sophomore swingman Danny Brown's lay-up with 11:37 to play and seemingly had a safe 48-38 margin on a Vouyoukas slam with 4:13 remaining.

But Temple's three-quarter court zone trap caused the Bills trouble, and the Owls began to chip away despite still trailing 52-49 with 2:02 to play when Lisch twice made 1-of-2 free throws. After Tyndale stole the ball and completed a traditional three-point play at the 1:08 mark, the Owls trailed 52-51. SLU's Vouyoukas missed from the right block on the Bills' next possession, but Liddell grabbed his third offensive rebound of the night and flipped it in. Temple guard Dustin Salisbery missed two free throws after being fouled on an offensive rebound, and Lisch got a breakaway lay-up to finish it.

"This gives us a whole lot of confidence, because we finished the game even though it got close," Liddell said. "It keeps us in the race for the upper part of the league and gives us something to play for the rest of the season."

Temple (14-10 overall, 7-6 A-10) All-Conference guard Mardy Collins scored 14 points, but was 4-of-16 from the field while being hounded by Drejaj, and was the only other Owl in double figures. Collins also had a game-high five steals. Temple shot 30.4 percent from the field, 13 percent from the arc and 63.6 percent from the free throw line. The Billikens out-rebounded the Owls 41-29.

Drejaj finished with 15 points on five treys. The Billikens shot 45.5 percent from the field, 47.6 percent from deep and 60 percent from the free throw line. Vouyoukas also collected 10 boards. Brown gave the Bills a lift off the bench with nine points.

Saint Louis (14-10, 8-4), which climbed into sole possession of fourth place in the A-10, hosts Rhode Island on Wed., Feb. 22, at 8 p.m. (CT).