PHILADELPHIA – Saint Louis rallied in the second half, but ended up falling 76-63 at Saint Joseph's Friday night in Atlantic 10 Conference action at Hagan Arena.

The Billikens dipped to 14-10 overall and 7-4 in league play. Saint Joseph's improved to 14-9 and 5-5 in the A-10.

Kobe Johnson continued his hot scoring stretch with a career-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field. Kalu Anya added 11 points, while Robbie Avila scored nine points with five rebounds.

Gibson Jimerson (eight points) left the game in the second half with an injury and did not return. 

It was a game of scoring runs in the opening half. After falling behind early, SLU reeled off seven straight points, including five by Anya, as SLU led 11-8 early on.

An 11-2 SLU spurt, highlighted by treys by Johnson and Isaiah Swope as well as a Swope-to-Anya alley-oop, gave the Billikens their biggest lead of the game at 30-20.

But SLU wouldn't score again over the final 4:56 of the half. Meanwhile, Saint Joseph's closed the first half on a 12-0 run to take a 32-30 lead into the break. 

Saint Joseph's extended its lead to 12 in the second half before the Billikens stormed back, playing a large portion of the second half with two freshmen in Dylan Warlick and Max Pikaar.

Two Pikaar dunks pulled SLU within a possession of the lead, but Saint Joseph's used the 3-pointer to the tune of eight second-half treys to pull back in front and post the 13-point win.

The Hawks were led by Erik Reynolds II and Xzayvier Brown, who scored 25 and 20 point apiece, respectively.

The Billikens are back at Chaifetz Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 11, hosting first-place George Mason for a 7 p.m. tip. The game will be televised on FanDuel Sports Network and streamed live on ESPN+.