Quotes

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis sophomore guard Kevin Lisch poured in 22 points as the Billikens knocked off Dayton 66-56 in an Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball game tonight at Scottrade Center. With their 17th win of the year, the Bills surpassed last year's victory total.

Dayton knocked down six of its first eight shots in building a 13-6 lead, but the Billikens answered with a 14-0 run as five different Billikens scored. The Bills capped the rally with a 3-on-1 break as Luke Meyer converted a lay-in off Lisch's behind-the-back bounce pass for a 20-13 SLU advantage.

Flyers forward Norman Plummer broke the run with a lay-in following a UD timeout. After SLU's Danny Brown and UD's Jimmie Binnie traded triples, Bills sophomore guard Tommie Liddell made the highlight reel play of the half as he split the Flyers' defense and flushed a two-handed slam over the front rim. Lisch fired a threeball out of the right corner, and Liddell nailed a 15-foot jumper off the left wing to give SLU its largest lead at 30-22.

Meyer's driving lay-up gave the Bills a 32-24 halftime lead. After its hot start, Dayton made only 5-of-21 shots to reach the break shooting 37.9 percent from the field. Meanwhile, SLU shot 48.1 percent.

Liddell started the second half with a floater in the lane to push SLU to a 10-point lead, but the Flyers answered with six straight points culminated by Charles Little's fastbreak dunk. SLU senior center Ian Vouyoukas countered with a short bank shot from the right block to stymie the UD momentum.

UD point guard London Warren and Binnie buried back-to-back treys in an 8-3 run to pull the Flyers back to within 39-38 at the 11:57 mark. The Billikens weathered the storm and answered with a Vouyoukas jump hook in the lane, Meyer's 17-foot jumper off Vouyoukas' screen and two Liddell free throws. After UD's Little knocked in a ball thrown up in the lane off an inbounds play with one second on the shot clock, Meyer buried another jumper to give SLU a 47-40 lead with 7:20 left. The Bills built a 51-42 edge as Husak tossed in a short hook and Lisch's lay-up completed a fastbreak, causing the Flyers to call time with 5:58 remaining.

The Flyers cut the margin to seven as Little connected on a short bank shot off the left block, but Lisch responded with a trey to match SLU's largest lead at 57-47 at the two minute mark. The Bills drilled 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to cement the victory.

The Bills held UD leading scorer Brian Roberts to 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 from three. Little was the game-high scorer with 23 points, while Binnie grabbed a game-high nine boards. The Flyers shot 38.1 percent from the floor, 23.8 percent from the arc and 75 percent.

Vouyoukas chipped in with 12 points and a team-high seven boards, while Liddell added 11 points and a game-high six assists. SLU shot 48.9 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from the arc and 86.7 percent from the line.

Saint Louis improved to 17-10 overall and 7-6 in league play, while the Flyers fell to 16-10 and 7-6. The Billikens travel to Massachusetts on Saturday for a 6 p.m. (CT) start that will be televised on CW11 KPLR-TV,