ST. LOUIS – No. 18 Saint Louis exploded for 55 second-half points and retained its hold on first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference with an 88-75 victory over VCU Friday in front of a sellout crowd of 10,223 at Chaifetz Arena.
The win was the 20th in a row at Chaifetz Arena for the Billikens (25-2, 13-1 A-10), who now have a two-game lead in the loss column over second-place VCU with four games remaining in the regular season.
Kellen Thames – the leading scorer in Saint Louis' win at VCU earlier this season – led a balanced Billiken attack with 16 points. Thames was 7-of-8 from the field and added a career- and game-high five steals.
Ishan Sharma was 4-of-6 from 3-point range, including three second-half treys, and finished with 13 points, as did
Robbie Avila (5-of-8 FG, two 3-pointers) and
Amari McCottry.
Quentin Jones (5-of-8 FG) tallied 11 points, and
Trey Green knocked down three triples for nine points.
In SLU's second-half offensive onslaught, Avila scored 11 of his 13 points, Thames had 10 of his 16, Sharma tallied 10 of his 13, McCottry netted nine of his 13, and Jones recorded nine of his 11.
Paul Otieno grabbed a season-high eight rebounds, including five on the offensive glass, and
Dion Brown collected seven as SLU battled to a 42-42 draw following a first-half rebounding deficit.
The Billikens shot 58.3 percent from the field overall (21-of-36) and from beyond the arc (7-of-12) in the second half to finish at 51.5 percent (34-of-66) overall and 40 percent (10-of-25) from 3-point distance.
Meanwhile, SLU's defense limited VCU to 22.6 percent (7-of-31) overall and 7.1 percent (1-of-14) from deep in the second half.
VCU scored the game's first 11 points and led by as many as 14 points twice in the first half before settling for a 42-33 halftime edge.
Saint Louis trimmed the margin to four, 45-41, within the first three minutes of the second half but saw VCU extend the lead to nine on two occasions.
It was 57-49 when the Billikens took over, assembling a 21-2 outburst that saw Thames score all 10 of his second-half points including the first seven in the run.
A bucket by Avila put SLU in front for good, 61-59, with 9:33 to play. The flurry concluded with a Sharma 3-pointer, a steal and layup by Thames, Avila's trey and a Thames free throw.
The Rams managed to pull to within seven, 70-63, but the Billikens answered with a 12-3 spurt sparked by Avila's three-point play. He and Sharma punctuated the run with 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, putting Saint Louis in firm command with an 82-66 cushion at the 3:34 mark.
Up next for the Billikens is a trip to Dayton on Tuesday, Feb. 24. The game tips at 6 p.m. Central and will be carried by FanDuel Sports.
