Dayton, Ohio - The Saint Louis Billikens went nearly seven minutes without a basket as Dayton pulled away in the second half for a 63-36 Atlantic 10 victory at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday evening. The Billikens were looking for their second-consecutive conference road win, but saw the Flyers sink eight 3-pointers on the night.
The Billikens hit their first two shots to take an early 5-2 lead as Kevin Lisch drained a trey and III sank a short jumper. Liddell rattled in a jumper from the right side as the Billikens built a five-point lead at 9-4. UD's Brian Roberts hit a trey, but Lisch answered with his own 3-pointer. The Billikens stole the ball, and Barry Eberhardt scored on a layup for a 14-9 at the 11:30 mark.
However, Roberts sank two consecutive shots from beyond the arc to give Dayton its first lead at 15-14 midway through the half. The Flyers edged out to a 19-14 lead before Bryce Husak's long jumper from the right corner ended the SLU dry spell. A Lisch bucket brought SLU to 21-18, but the Flyers' London Warren scored seven straight points to end the half for a 28-18 lead at intermission.
SLU inched closer on back-to-back buckets by Luke Meyer and Husak, but the Flyers hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to stretch the lead to 36-24 three minutes into the second half. The Flyers remained hot from beyond the arc and hit two more treys during a 15-5 run that pushed Dayton on top 48-29 with 11:55 to play. Neither team scored for more than four minutes until a UD 3-pointer pushed the Flyers on top by 20 with just under eight minutes remaining in the contest.
Liddell led the Billikens with 10 points, while Kevin Lisch chipped in nine points and three assists. Brian Roberts led the Flyers with 18 points. The Billikens struggled from the field and only hit 36.8 percent, while the Flyers converted at a 53.3 percent rate.
The Billikens fall to 11-9, 2-4 in the A-10. The Flyers end their three-game losing skid and improve to 15-4, 3-3 in the A-10. The Billikens return home to host Massachusetts on Saturday, February 2, in a 1 p.m. game at Scottrade Center.
