Springfield, Mo. - Saint Louis' furious late rally against Missouri State fell short 60-56 at the John Q. Hammons Center on Wednesday evening in Springfield, Mo. The Billikens drained four 3-pointers in the late going and cut a double-digit deficit to just three, but Spencer Laurie hit the second of two free throws with 2.3 seconds left as the Bears held on for a narrow victory.
The Bears scored the first five points of the game, but the Billikens answered with six straight. Barry Eberhardt scored inside, then hit a long jumper from the right. III scored on a pullup jumper in the lane as the Billikens took their first lead four minutes into the game. The Bears then added another 5-0 run to retake the lead. MSU eventually stretched its lead to 18-10 with under nine minutes left in the half. Liddell drained a jumper to end the Bears' run. Kevin Lisch rattled in a short jumper to cut the gap to 21-14, but the Billikens only scored two points over the next five minutes as Missouri State eventually built a double-digit lead at 25-14. The Billikens held the Bears without a point for the last three minutes of the half and trailed 30-19 at intermission. The Bears ended the first half shooting 65.0 percent from the field (13-of-20) and hit four of eight shots from 3-point range.
A 3-pointer by Luke Meyer and a hoop by Liddell trimmed the MSU lead to single digits at 34-26 at the 14:54 mark. The Bears scored seven unanswered points to push the lead back to 41-26 with a little over 11 minutes left to play. Eberhardt and Lisch accounted for SLU's next eight points as the Billikens kept the margin to 10. MSU tacked on a 5-0 burst and stretched the advantage once again to 15. Eberhardt sandwiched two buckets around a Lisch free throw to pull the Billikens to 48-39 with five minutes left to play. After MSU missed the front end of a one and one, Meyer drained a deep trey as the Billikens closed to 48-42. MSU hit a trey to go up 54-44, but Lisch answered with a 3-point as SLU closed to 54-47 with 2:23 left in the game. Meyer nailed one 3-pointer, and Lisch hit two treys in the final 35 seconds and closed the gap to 59-56 with 5.8 ticks left in the game. However, Laurie's free throw iced the game
Barry Eberhardt scored a career-high 16 points, and Kevin Lisch matched that effort with 16. Luke Meyer posted his second career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Three Bears scored 10 points to lead the MSU effort. The Bears ended the night shooting 53.8 percent from the field, the best by a SLU foe this season.
The Billikens are now 4-2, while the Bears improve to 3-1. The Billikens return home on Saturday, Nov. 24, when they host Pacific at 7 p.m. at Scottrade Center.
