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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Sophomore guard Tommie Liddell netted a game-high 24 points but it was his steal with seven seconds left in overtime that delivered a 74-71 Saint Louis victory over Massachusetts in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship tonight at Boardwalk Hall. The Billikens collected their 20th win of the season, the first at SLU since 1997-98 and the first of head coach Brad Soderberg's coaching career.
The Billikens had to rally from a halftime deficit for the second-straight game but were up to the challenge, erasing the UMass eight- point lead four minutes into the second stanza. Luke Meyer swiped a steal, and Ian Vouyoukas hit a short jumper in the lane to tie the game at 34-34. Vouyoukas was fouled on the play and sank the free throw to give the Bills a 35-34 lead.
The game see-sawed back and forth over the next nine minutes. With the game tied at 50-50 with 7:42 on the clock, Kevin Lisch drilled a 3-pointer from the right baseline. The Minutemen cut the lead to one with a pair of free throws by Stephane Lasme, but Bryce Husak pushed it back to three with a layup from the right block. Rashaun Freeman fouled the Billikens' center on the play, his fifth of the game with 6:29 to play.
Meyer hit a pair of free throws for a 57-54 lead when UMass' James Life rained in a 3-pointer to tie the game for the seventh time with 5:25 on the clock. The Minutemen built a four-point lead on free throws from Lasme and Gary Tucker. After Vouyoukas hit a pair of free throws and Chris Lowe floated on in off the glass, UMass regained their four-point margin at 63-59. Senior Justin Johnson hit back-to-back jumpers, including the second staring Lasme in the face, to knot the game at 63-63 at the two-minute mark.
The Billikens locked UMass down on the next possession, but a foul late in the shot clock put Luke Bonner on the line for a pair of free throws and a 65-63 lead with 1:25 left. SLU went right back to Vouyoukas who powered up the tying shot from the left block to tie the game yet again. In the final minute, Lowe put up a runner in the lane but left it short, and Liddell chased down the rebound. Falling out of bounds before he could call timeout, though, the Minutemen had one more chance to capture the win. SLU made its best defensive stand of the night, forcing a shot clock violation with 4.7 ticks left. After a SLU timeout, Lisch raced down the court, but his off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short.
The overtime period was all Billikens early as SLU steadily built a seven-point lead on the backs of Liddell, Lisch and Vouyoukas. The Minutemen started their run back with 1:11 left with Gary Forbes draining a 3-pointer. SLU beat the UMass press, and Liddell left a layup just short, but got his own rebound and pulled it out to get fouled. Hit hit both free throws to push the lead back to five at 73-68 with 49 seconds remaining.
The Minutemen misfired on a jumper but got the offensive rebound to set up Life for triple to cut the lead to two with 33 seconds left on the clock. As the Billikens brought the ball up against the UMass pressure, they were called for over and back, putting the ball in the hands of the Minutemen for a final shot with 19 ticks on the clock.
Lowe let the clock wind down before penetrating from the top of the key only to have Liddell reach in to swipe the ball. The SLU guard hit the first of his two free throws for the final margin of victory.
Facing the league's top rebounding team, the Billikens matched the Minutemen on the glass with 35 boards apiece. Vouyoukas and the Billikens frontcourt limited the UMass vaunted starting front line to just 14 combined points, while Vouyoukas netted 21 and Husak added 10, tying his career high. Lisch and Husak also tied their career highs in rebounds with eight and six, respectively. Lisch added 11 points and three assists.
The Billikens will face the winner of the George Washington/Saint Joseph's game on Fri., March 9, at 8 p.m. (CT). The game will air live in St. Louis on CW11/KPLR.
