St. Louis - The Saint Louis Billikens made the home debut of coach Rick Majerus a successful one with a 66-58 victory over Detroit on Wednesday evening at Scottrade Center. The Bills used a 10-0 burst in the second half to take control of the game and held off a late charge by the Titans. The Billikens blazed the nets in the second half with 12-of-18 shooting (66.7 percent).
The Titans jumped to a quick 6-2 lead at the 16:05 mark, but the Billiken defense locked down Detroit. SLU kept the Titans scoreless for over seven minutes. Meanwhile, the SLU offense picked up and reeled off a 10-0 run. Barry Eberhardt began the run with a layup, and Bryce Husak followed with six straight points on two short jumpers and two free throws. Eventually, the Billikens stretched the advantage to 14-6 at the 9:04 mark on two Kevin Lisch free throws. The Billikens still led 16-9, but the Titans came back and tied the game at 19-19 with under three minutes left in the first half. Paul Eckerle drained a 3-pointer, but the Titans answered with a long jumper. The Billikens launched a shot in the waning seconds of the first half, and Husak grabbed the errant shot for a putback and a 24-21 lead at intermission.
The Billikens kept a narrow lead eight minutes into the second half and were up 35-31 at the 11:45 mark. Much like in the first half, the Billiken defense kept Detroit off the board for a long stretch. A jumper by III sparked the decisive 10-0 run. Eberhardt nailed a 3-pointer out of the corner, and Liddell added another jumper. Husak closed out the run with three straight points for the biggest lead of the game, 45-31 with 7:43 remaining in the game. Detroit made one late charge and managed to cut the deficit to single digits. However, the Billikens hit six of eight free throws in the final minute to keep the Titans at bay.
Husak hit 5-of-6 shots from the field en route to hit 13 points, and he grabbed a career-high seven rebounds in just 17 minutes of action. Lisch added 12 points, including 10-of-12 from the free-throw line, while Luke Meyer chipped in 11. Josh Samarco led Detroit with 16 points, and Chris Hayes added 14. The Billikens held high-scoring guard Jon Goode in check as he scored 10 points but managed to make only four of 12 shots from the field. For the third straight game, the Billikens shot at lead 50 percent by making 20-of-36 from the field (55.6 percent).
The Billikens improve to 3-1 on the season, while the Titans see their record level at 1-1. The Billikens close out a two-game home stretch then they host Furman at Scottrade Center for a 7 p.m. contest on Sat., Nov. 17.
