St. Louis - Kevin Lisch tallied 21 points to lead four Saint Louis players in double figures as the Billikens upended IUPUI 66-57 in their final nonconference game of the season at Scottrade Center on Saturday evening. The Billiken defense held the potent Jaguars to a season low output in points and ended IUPUI's eight-game winning streak.
The Billikens used hot shooting from deep to edge out to an early advantage. Kevin Lisch hit back-to-back treys as the Billikens took an early 8-5 lead. When Lisch drained a 3-pointer at the 12:27 mark, the Bills still led 13-9, but the Jaguars eventually tied the game at 17-17. Dwayne Polk swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and two charity tosses by Luke Meyer extended the SLU lead to 22-17. IUPUI scored on a short jumper, but Liddell sank the fifth 3-pointer of the half for a 25-19 Billiken advantage. IUPUI scored four straight, but the Billikens answered with the last five points of the half. Liddell hit a mid-range jumper, and Meyer completed a three-point play with three ticks left before intermission for a 30-23 lead at the break. SLU ended the half 11-of-20 from the half (55.0 percent), their best first-half shooting effort on the season.
IUPUI began the second half by scoring the first five points, but the Billikens responded with 10 unanswered points. Lisch drained a 3-pointer, and Danny Brown hit two free throws for a 35-28 lead. Liddell swished a deep trey, and Lisch's jumper closed out the run for a 40-28 lead six minutes into the second half. An IUPUI 3-pointer ended the Billiken run, but Barry Eberhardt scored five straight points as the Billikens took their largest lead of the game at 45-31 at the 11:18 mark. IUPUI slowly chipped away at the lead and got as close as five at 51-46. Eberhardt hit a short jumper and then drained a trey from the corner to rebuild a double-digit lead, 56-46, with four minutes remaining. The Jaguars got as close as seven, but the Billikens drained seven of eight free throws in the final two minutes to hold on for their third straight win.
Lisch hit four 3-pointers en route to his 21 points, while Liddell added three treys to finish with 15 points. Meyer finished with 12 points, and Eberhardt chipped in 10 points. Dwayne Polk tied his career with nine assists, and he added six points and three steals. Lisch played strong defense on IUPUI's leading scorer, George Hill and helped hold him to 12 points. The Billikens hit a season-high nine 3-pointers.
The Billikens improve to 9-5, while the Jaguars now fall to 9-3. The Billikens begin Atlantic 10 Conference play on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008, when they travel to George Washington for a 7 p.m. (CT) contest. The game will be nationally televised on CSTV.
