PHILADELPHIA - Sophomore guard Tommie Liddell poured in a career-high tying 28 points, including a school-record eight 3-pointers, but it was not enough to overcome an equally hot-shooting Temple team as Saint Louis fell to the Owls 85-79 in Atlantic 10 Conference action tonight at the Laicouras Center. The Billikens (11-6, 2-3 A-10) had the better of the shooting from the field but saw the Owls (7-9, 1-3 A-10) hit 23-of-28 from the free-throw line compared to just 4-of-8 for SLU.

Offense was the order of the day in the first half as the teams combined for 17 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. The Billikens hit 7-of-9 from behind the arc and 14-of-20 overall, while Temple staked its halftime lead behind 9-of-14 from 3-point range and 15-of-23 overall.

Saint Louis took the early lead and set the pace by hitting its first three shots of the half and holding an 11-8 margin at the first media timeout. After the break, the Owls warmed up, though, and hit 4-of-5 3s in the next four minutes while the Billikens cooled off to hit just 1-of-5 over the stretch. After a Mark Tyndale three opened a 10-point lead with 1:40 left in the half, the Billikens got a traditional three-point play from Dustin Maguire, a jumper by Danny Brown and an improbable long three from Liddell as the clock expired to cut their deficit to four at 49-45.

Luke Meyer hit a triple right out of the gate to pull SLU within one, but Temple continued to have the answer for the Billiken run. After both team enduring a scoring drought, Liddell buried his eighth 3-pointer of the game at 9:51 to again narrow the margin to one point at 60-59. Tyndale and Dionte Christmas combined to push the Owls in front by six, but Justin Johnson's tip-in and Jeff Coffey's layup in transition pulled SLU back within two at 6:44.

With 3:15 remaining, the Billikens again trimmed the deficit to one on a 3-pointer from Brown, but yielded the lead on a pair of driving layups on the other end. From that point, the Owls did not hit another field goal, and barely had the opportunity to take one as they went on a steady parade to the free-throw line, hitting 10-of-14 from the line in the final 2:11.

The Billikens were not finished, however, as Brown hit three 3-pointers during that time, pulling SLU as close as 82-79 with the last one with 11 seconds remaining. On the ensuing in-bounds play, Liddell looked to have the steal, but was called for a foul, sending Tyndale back to the line, where he hit 1-of-2 to make it a two possession game. Brown's fourth 3-pointer was blocked out of bounds, and the Owls escaped with the win.

Liddell's 28 led all scorers and gave him five straight games of 20 or more points. His eight 3-pointers broke the previous school record of seven, which was accomplished six times, last by Reggie Bryant on Jan. 3, 2004, against Kansas State. Brown, Meyer and Ian Vouyoukas joined Liddell in double figures. SLU connected on 15 3-point field goals, which matched the school record also set against Kansas State in 2004. The Owls had three players with 20 or more points with Dustin Salisbery leading the way at 25 to go with his game-high 10 rebounds.

Saint Louis returns to action on Sat., Jan. 20, at Fordham. The game, set to tip at 11 a.m. (CT), will air live on CW11/KPLR in St. Louis.