ST. LOUIS – Gibson Jimerson scored a team-high 16 points and Larry Hughes II tossed in a career-high 14, but Massachusetts held off Saint Louis 84-73 Saturday night at Chaifetz Arena.
 
SLU dipped to 8-12 overall and 1-6 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, while UMass improved to 13-7, 4-4.
 
Bradley Ezewiro and Terrence Hargrove Jr. tallied 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Billikens, who stuck around in the game by shooting 44 percent (11-of-25) from 3-point range and 87.5 percent (14-of-16) from the foul line. Hughes tied his career best of four 3-pointers (4-of-6).
 
Michael Meadows Jr. matched his season high and led all players with seven assists to go with nine points. Djordje Curcic netted a career-high eight points.
 
Saint Louis trailed by 10 points with less than a minute remaining in the first half before Curcic cut the margin in half with a 3-pointer and two free throws, and it was 41-36 UMass at intermission.
 
After the Billikens narrowed the gap to three points on four occasions early in the second half, the Minutemen gradually pulled out to an 11-point advantage, 64-53, with 10:16 left. Jimerson buried two triples in a 10-2 spurt that made it a one-possession game, 66-63, at the 6:10 mark.
 
From there, the UMass lead swung between four and seven points, and SLU still had hope trailing 78-71 with 1:02 to play. But an empty Billiken possession was followed by two Minutemen free throws, beginning their game-clinching 6-of-6 effort from the stripe in the closing seconds.
 
Saint Louis twice owned a nine-point lead in the first seven minutes of the game, but UMass outscored the Billikens 32-13 over a 12-minute span to surge in front 41-31.
 
SLU plays at Loyola Chicago Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m.