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ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis took control early and cruised to 75-39 win over Mississippi Valley State Tuesday evening at Chaifetz Arena. It is the first 4-0 start for the Billikens since the 1997-98 campaign. The Delta Devils drop to 1-4 with the loss.
After the Devils scored their first point on a charity toss at 18:47, the Billikens took control by putting the next nine points on the board, racing out to an 11-1 lead. Willie Reed recorded the first six points of the spurt on a two layups and a baseline jumper before Kyle Cassity knocked down a 3-pointer from the right corner to give SLU the 10-point advantage.
A Jason Holmes layup sliced the margin to eight points, but Justin Jordan's 3-pointer pushed the lead back out to 14-3 with 15:40 to go. MVSU made it an eight-point game twice more before back-to-back 3-pointers by Christian Salecich and Cassity gave the Bills their largest lead of the half at 22-8 with 10:33 remaining. With the exception of a free throw by Reed at 5:47, SLU was then held scoreless for nearly seven minutes as the Delta Devils used five free throws and two layups to slice the deficit to 23-17. The teams traded baskets from there with the Billikens heading into the locker room up 31-24 at halftime.
Saint Louis shot 44.4 percent from the field in the first half to Mississippi Valley State's 35 percent. The Delta Devils kept themselves in the game by going 9-for-11 from the free-throw line. Reed led all scorers at the break with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Shannon Behling was the only MVSU player to knock down more than one shot from the field, finishing the first half with a team-high eight points.
Justin Jordan's 3-pointer out of the break immediately pushed the Billikens' lead back out to double digits. SLU maintained its double-digit advantage for the majority of the second half as the lead eventually grew as large as 39 points in the waning minutes of the contest. The Bills were up 51-35 when they pushed forward with a 15-0 run. Reed laid one in at 9:10 and Salecich knocked down a 3-pointer less than 30 seconds later. Then Salecich hit a free throw before Femi John closed the scoring stretch with a 3-pointer from the right side that put SLU ahead 66-35 with 5:44 left in the game.
The Billikens shot 52.8 percent in the win, while holding the Devils to a 27.7 percent rate. SLU knocked down a season-high 12 3-pointers and shot at a 44.4 clip behind the arc, while limiting MVSU to just two treys and 16.7 percent shooting from 3-point land.
Reed led four Billikens in double figures scoring with a game-high 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting. Salecich chipped in 14 points, Jordan added 12 points and Cassity contributed 10 points and five assists. Mitchell collected nine points and game highs of six assists and five steals. Holmes paced MVSU with 13 points, while Behling added 10 points.
