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ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis sophomore guard Tommie Liddell (East St. Louis, Ill.) led four Billikens in double-figures with 21 points as SLU ousted the visiting Xavier Musketeers 76-65 in Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball action Saturday night at Scottrade Center. SLU, which improves to 12-5 overall and 2-2 in the A-10, jumped out to a 10-0 lead to start the game and never looked back. It was the first A-10 loss of the season for Xavier, which slips to 12-5 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
"I'm pleased with two consecutive games of quality defense," Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg said. "I've challenged our guys to make this week a defensive week. We were either going to establish our defense, or continue to suffer tough losses. I want to give my staff and my players credit for regenerating the effort."
That stifling Billiken defense dictated the tempo early, as SLU held Xavier to without a field goal until the 11:18 mark of the first half. SLU, which came into the game leading the league in field-goal percentage against, forced Xavier to miss its first 12 chances from the field, including numerous attempts from 3-point range.
Meanwhile, battling Xavier's zone defense, SLU connected on a myriad of shots from the outside to build its lead early on. Junior guard Dwayne Polk (St. Louis, Mo. / Vashon) and Liddell connected on midrange jumpers, and sophomore guard Kevin Lisch (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) threw in a couple of layups as the Billikens pushed out to their 10-0 lead.
Liddell, the A-10's leading scorer, hit two straight treys to give the Billikens a 21-9 lead at the 8:18 mark. Lisch took advantage of a possession that was kept alive by junior forward Luke Meyer's (Washington, Mo./Borgia) two offensive boards by burying a trey to give the Bills a 16 point lead at the 5:19 mark of the first half. The Billikens would take a 29-17 lead into the break after shooting 48 percent from the floor and limiting Xavier to just 26 percent shooting in the half.
The Billikens protected their double-digit lead through the early stages of the second half, but Xavier point guard Drew Lavender nailed two straight 3-pointers to pull the Musketeers to within nine at 47-38 with 10:50 remaining. But Meyer would reel off nine straight points for the Bills, and Polk hit a crucial trey just under the seven-minute mark, to deny a chance for Xavier to grab the momentum.
Xavier inched to within seven points of the lead following a barrage of 3-pointers from Lavender and a couple of layups from Derrick Brown. But SLU came through in the clutch at the free-throw line in the waning minutes to secure the 11-point win.
Liddell led the Bills in scoring for the fourth-straight game with 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field and a 3-of-3 performance from long range He has surpassed the 20-point plateau for the fourth-straight game, a feat that has not been accomplished at SLU since Justin Love did it in 2000. Lisch added 19 for the Bills, and Meyer and Polk each contributed 12.
Lavender poured in 16 for the Musketeers, who shot 52 percent in the second half.
The Billikens begin a two-game road trip on Wednesday when they travel to Philadelphia to face Temple. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. (CT).
