PITTSBURGH – Top-seed Saint Louis erased a 21-point deficit to post an 88-81 victory over No. 9 George Washington Friday in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Basketball Championship.
The win was the school-record-tying 28th win for the Billikens, who improve to 28-4 overall. George Washington falls to 18-15.
The Bills advance to the semifinals on Saturday against either St. Bonaventure or Dayton. Game time is set for Noon (CT) on CBS Sports Network, with the trip to Sunday's A-10 title game on the line.
George Washington's largest lead was 21 points (36-15) with just under seven minutes left in the first half. The 21-point comeback is the largest in school history, surpassing 20-point comebacks for the Bills against Saint Joseph's in 2023-24, Houston in 2003-04 and New Mexico in 1988-89.
Robbie Avila led the Billikens with 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting. He added four assists and two blocks. Trey Green added 19 points and four assists, while Kellen Thames went for 14 points.
SLU shot 53.3 percent in the second half and finished 24-of-26 from the free-throw line.Â
The Billikens struck first when Dion Brown knocked down a 3-pointer less than 20 seconds into the game, but George Washington quickly responded and seized momentum midway through the opening half.Â
After Green briefly gave Saint Louis a 9–7 lead with a 3-pointer at the 15:41 mark, the Revs began to heat up from the perimeter. Trey Autry and Tyrone Marshall hit key shots during a long run that pushed George Washington ahead by double digits, and a series of second-chance opportunities helped extend the lead. Marshall's 3-pointer and Christian Jones' transition triple helped fuel the 15-0 surge, and Autry capped the run with a fast-break layup that gave GW its largest lead of the half, 36–15, with 6:59 remaining.
Saint Louis began to chip away late in the half behind Avila and Thames. Avila scored inside and converted a three-point play, while Thames added a putback dunk and free throws during a scoring push. Brady Dunlap also contributed with a four-point play late in the half, and Green finished the half with a driving layup as the Billikens cut the deficit to 48–34 heading into the break.
The second half belonged to Saint Louis. Quentin Jones opened the period with a layup, and the Billikens quickly applied pressure with defense and transition offense. A steal by Green led to an Ishan Sharma 3-pointer, and Brown added a layup off another turnover as Saint Louis trimmed the deficit to five points. Avila then took over offensively, converting free throws and later hitting three-straight 3-pointers to ignite the comeback. A Green fast-break 3-pointer with 14:02 left cut the deficit to four, and Avila's deep three at the 8:55 mark finally gave Saint Louis its first lead since the opening minutes.
The teams traded momentum down the stretch, but the Billikens made the decisive plays in the final minute. After George Washington briefly went ahead by one, Green knocked down two clutch free throws with 1:24 remaining. Moments later, Avila scored on a layup in the paint to push the lead to three, and Brown added two free throws in the final seconds to seal the comeback victory for Saint Louis.
