St. Louis - The Saint Louis Billikens held Savannah State to just five points over the opening 13 minutes of the game and cruised past the Tigers 55-37. The victory snapped a three-game losing skid for the Billikens who were playing their first game at Chaifetz Arena since Nov. 22.

Willie Reed scored the first basket of the game, and Savannah State's Raye Bailey answered with a 3-pointer to give the Tigers their only lead of the day. Brett Thompson converted inside, and Barry Eberhardt threw down a dunk in transition. Ruben Cotto's 3-pointer gave the Billikens an 11-3 margin at the 12:31 mark. The Billiken defense forced SSU into three misses, two turnovers, and the Tigers failed on two free throw attempts. Savannah State finally scored to make it 11-5, but the Billikens tallied 10 straight to surge ahead.

Cotto drained another trey, and a Willie Reed scored on a backdoor dunk, and a long 3-pointer by III handed the Billikens a 21-5 margin at the 8:15 mark. The Billiken lead grew to as much as 19 points as the Tigers did not reach double figures until just 1:28 remained in the first half. The Billikens settled for a 28-13 lead at intermission. SLU's defense forced the Tigers into just 6-of-18 shooting (33.3 percent) and forced eight SSU turnovers.

Early in the second half, the Tigers cut the gap to 28-18, but the Billikens answered with a 12-2 run to effectively seal the game. Lisch swished a 3-pointer as he scored seven straight points in the burst. After a Savannah State hoop, Liddell sank two free throws and had a slam in transition off a Cotto assist. Brian Conklin's layup pushed the SLU advantage to 41-20 with just under 13 minutes left to play. The Billikens stretched the advantage to 31 and eased to the triumph.

Lisch led the Billikens with 14 points, five assists and five steals. He moved past Lewis McKinney into 12th place on the all-time SLU scoring list and has 1,336 points. Liddell added 10 points, while Eberhardt tied a career high with nine rebounds. Raye Bailed topped Savannah State with 17 points. The Billikens defense harassed the Tigers into 31.3 percent shooting from the field (15-of-48) and 19 turnovers.

The Billikens improve to 3-4, while the Tigers drop to 5-3. The Billikens are next in action on Saturday, Dec. 13, when they host Samford in a 4 p.m. game.