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ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis broke open a close game with an explosive run early in the second half and cruised to a 72-45 victory over Rockhurst Monday night at Chaifetz Arena.
Leading just 28-27 at halftime, the Billikens outscored the Hawks 44-18 in the second half. Rob Loe fueled the rally by scoring the first five points of the second stanza and went on to tally 13 of his 16 points after intermission. Loe narrowly missed a double-double, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.
Kyle Cassity (7-of-9 FG) scored a game-high 17 points and collected six rebounds for the Billikens, just shy of his career highs of 18 points and seven boards. Cody Ellis added 10 points, while Dwayne Evans gathered seven rebounds. Mike McCall and Jordair Jett tied for game-high honors with four assists apiece.
Aaron Morrissey led Rockhurst (0-1), a member of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference, with 14 points, and Terance Tatum added nine. Brett Hornung had five rebounds for the Hawks.
SLU opened the second half with possession of the ball and Loe immediately capitalized, nailing a 3-pointer from the right corner. He followed with a layup created by Jett's penetration, and Cassity made one of two free throws. Cory Remeken's dunk, with Jett assisting again, made it 36-29. Loe's long 2-pointer and Jett's fast-break layup put the Bills on top by double figures, 40-29.
A Morrissey 3-pointer momentarily slowed SLU's momentum, but Cassity hit a baseline jumper and McCall scored a layup for a 44-32 Billiken lead. Tatum connected on a trey to trim the Saint Louis advantage to nine, but that was the last time the Hawks would trail by single digits.
Jett made a driving layup, followed by Cassity's baseline jumper and drive and two Brian Conklin free throws to give SLU a 52-35 cushion. Rockhurst scored the next four points, but the Bills put it away with a 9-0 spurt. Conklin started the run with a layup and a free throw. Loe converted an offensive rebound into a layup and recorded another basket on a tip-in, and Ellis' layup completed the flurry with a layup that made it 61-41.
The Billikens jumped to an 8-2 lead on 3-pointers by Loe and McCall and Cassity's tough driving layup. After Rockhurst narrowed the gap to two on a spinning bank shot by Blake Baird and Tatum's 17-foot fadeaway, Cassity scored on a slicing layup and Evans nailed a baseline jumper to restore a six-point margin at 12-6.
The Hawks responded with Baird's 17-footer from the right wing and Tom Shirley's jumper on consecutive possessions to make it a two-point game again, 12-10. Conklin's baseline turnaround was followed by Hornung's second-chance layup, and SLU led 14-12.
SLU then established some breathing room with an 8-0 run. Evans' free throw was followed by Remekun's traditional 3-point play. Cassity netted two free throws and followed with a fast-break dunk for a 22-12 Billiken cushion. However, Morrissey scored nine points in a 15-6 Rockhurst run that covered the last 6:19 of the half, and Saint Louis held a fragile one-point lead at intermission.
The Billikens are back in action at Chaifetz Arena Saturday, Nov. 20, hosting Georgia at 7 p.m.
