CONWAY, S.C. – Saint Louis shot 57.7 percent in the second half as the Billikens topped Wyoming 79-69 Thursday in the opening game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational at the HTC Center.  

SLU (4-0) advances to face Vermont (3-0) on Friday morning at 11 a.m. (St. Louis time) on ESPN2. The Catamounts rallied from 15 points down to defeat College of Charleston 73-64 on Thursday to advance to the winner's bracket. 

Sincere Parker scored a career-high 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor and snagged a team-best eight rebounds before leaving with an injury in the second half. He did not return to the game. 

Tim Dalger scored a season-high 17 points and nailed a pair of big 3-pointers. Kellen Thames got additional playing time when Parker went out and hit all four of his shots from the field en route to nine points. 

Freshman Cian Medley scored seven points, dished out three assists and posted four steals. He did not commit a turnover in 17 minutes of action. 

The Billikens still won the game despite being outrebounded 46-33, including allowing 22 offensive rebounds to the Cowboys. Also, Gibson Jimerson had an uncharacteristic night while taking just one shot and finishing with zero points. He did end up as a +11 in the plus/minus column. 

Wyoming jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first half before the Billikens slowly chipped away. The Bills went on a 9-0 run late in the first half, and the teams traded leads down the stretch in the first half before Wyoming went into halftime leading 35-34.  

The second half saw the Billikens come out hot, with seven early points by Parker to give the Billikens the lead. Back-to-back treys by Parker and Dalger put SLU up by four three minutes into the second half, and the Bills wouldn't lose the lead from that point on. 

The Cowboys, who came in as one of the hottest shooting teams in the country, did not go down quietly and pulled to within a possession of the lead on several occasions. But the Billikens would always get the answer and made shots down the stretch for a 10-point win. 

SLU limited the Cowboys to just 35.2 percent shooting from the field, including a 14.3 percent mark from 3-point range. Wyoming was 1-11 from distance in the second half.