The 5-4 Saint Louis University Billikens took on the 1-5 SIUE Cougars at Chaifetz Arena tonight. The Billikens began the game playing good defense as the Cougars began their night 1-7 from the field. The Billikens made it a point to get points in the paint as they tried to feed John Manning and Austin Gillman the ball. This worked for to their favor as Junior Austin McBroom knocked down a three and the Billikens jumped out to an 11-9 lead at the first TV timeout.
After the TV timeout, the Cougars got a three-point play and took the lead 12-11; however, that lead would not last as freshman Marcus Bartley finished an easy layup giving the Billikens the 13-12 lead. The Billikens then forced a turnover, which lead to an easy Reggie Agbeko layup and gave the Billikens a 15-12 lead. The Billikens made a huge effort to get the ball down low to the post players. The Billikens jumped out to 7-8 shooting from the floor.
At the 11:57 mark, the Billikens had a 17-13 lead over the Cougars. The Billikens were playing great defense as the Cougars were shooting 4-13 from the field. The Billikens then have some sloppy turnovers, as the Cougars were able to cut the deficit to 17-15. At the 9:29, Austin McBroom hits another three expanding the lead to 20-15. He led all scorers with 8 points. The Billikens then forced a turnover and go down the floor and execute a beautiful high-low play, which allowed freshman Austin Gillman to finish an easy layup growing the deficit to 22-15. SIUE Cougar senior Maurice Wiltz got freshman Davell Roby in the air to commit a foul. Wiltz hit one of two free throws and cut the lead to 24-18. Then, the Billikens come down the court and freshman Austin Gillman threw the ball to SIUE bench causing another Billiken turnover. Another sign of the growing pains of a young freshman filled squad.
Coming back from the TV timeout, the Billikens give up an easy layup to the Cougars and cut the lead to 24-20. The Billikens then committed another turnover bringing up their total to 9 on the night. The Billikens got a nice defensive stop, but then freshman Davell Roby travels causing another unforced turnover. Another sign of the growing pains and young, mistake filled team. The Billikens then got some offensive production as junior Ash Yacoubou drew a foul and sank two free throws to grow the lead to 26-20. The Billikens then forced a bad shot, but John Manning couldn’t get position to get the rebound as Cougar senior Keaton Jackson tipped in the rebound. The Billikens then give up another easy shot as the lead decreases to 26-25. Then, sophomore Mike Crawford became aggressive and made a layup and grewsthe lead to 28-25. The Billikens got a stop, and freshman Miles Reynolds drew a foul on layup opportunity.
With the 3:44 left in the first half, Miles Reynolds steps to the line and knocked down both free throws to grow the lead to 30-25. The Cougars answer back with a Chris Davis layup to cut the lead to 30-27. The Billikens forced a turnover and got the ball to Mike Crawford in transition who drew a foul on a layup. Crawford knocked down both free throws and grew the lead to 32-27. The Cougars answered back with a layup and cut the lead to 32-29. The Cougars Chris Davis hit a three to tie the game 32-32. Miles Reynolds comes down and hit a jumper and drew the foul. Reynolds hit the free throw and grew the lead to 35-32. With just a couple seconds left, Austin Gillman hits a jumper to maintain the lead at half with a score of 37-34.
At half, the Billikens shot 62% from the field while holding the Cougars to shooting 45% from the field. One stat that stood out to me was how the Billikens were being outrebounded by the Cougars on the offensive glass where the Cougars had 5 and the Billikens only had 1.
The Cougars come down on the first possession of the half and scored which decreased the lead 37-36. Freshman Milik Yarbrough got the roll in and grew the lead to 39-36. The Cougars come down as Chris Davis floated one in to cut the lead to 39-38. Austin McBroom hit his third three of the night that grew the lead to 42-38. On the next Billiken possession, Yarbrough drew a foul but only made 1 free throw, which grew the lead to 43-38. Yarbrough got a block and then senior John Manning finds him low on the block for an easy layup that gave the Billikens a 45-38 lead. This forced SIUE to call a timeout. After the timeout, the Billikens got a stop, and Manning hit a jumper that grew the lead to 47-38. The Cougars Chris Davis answers with another three to cut the lead to 49-41. The Cougars hit another three to cut the lead to 49-44. The pace of play has picked up as the offenses trade buckets.
At 14:05, the Billikens carried a lead of 49-44. The Billikens committed another offensive foul, which gave them 6 on the night. The Cougars Keaton Jackson got another offensive rebound and put it in, which cut the lead to 49-46. Reggie Agbeko finished a layup and drew a foul. Agbeko couldn’t finish the three-point play as the Billikens grew the lead to 53-48.
With 11:50 left in the game, the Billikens forced a turnover and committed a turnover on their own. On the next Billiken possession, freshman Brett Jolly was able to draw a foul on the offensive glass. The Billikens put up a terrible shot and gave possession to the Cougars. The Cougars committed an illegal screen and gave the Billikens the ball back. On the next Cougar possession, they were able to get an easy dunk to shrink the lead to 53-50. Then, Jolly committed a questionable technical foul. Chris Davis hit one of two free throws, which cut the Billikens lead to 53-51. On the next Billikens possession, the Billikens couldn’t manage to get a shot on the basket and turn it over to the Cougars.
With 7:56, the Cougars were set to inbound the ball after a block by Ash Yacoubou. The Billikens played good defense, and the Cougars commit a shot clock violation. On the Billikens possession, Milik Yarbrough drew a foul in the post. He hit one of two and grew the lead to 54-51. The Cougars got John Manning to commit a foul. They hit one of two and cut the lead to 54-52. The Billikens got the ball to Reggie Agbeko, and he hit one of two from the line that grew the lead to 55-52. The Cougars missed a free throw, but got the offensive rebound and hit a layup to cut the lead to 55-54. The Billikens forced a bad shot, but they were unable to corral the rebound. Cougars got an extra possession. The Billikens played good defense and to the rebound. Sophomore Tanner Lancona went baseline and got the layup, which grew the lead to 57-54. The Cougars called a timeout with 3:35 left in the game.
After the timeout, the Billikens allowed the Cougars to get a layup to cut the lead to 57-56. On the next Billiken possession, Tanner Lancona drew a foul and would go to the line to extend the Billikens lead.
After the final TV timeout, there were 2:44 left on the clock as Lancona stepped to the line. He hit one of two and grew the lead to 58-56. The Cougars Chris Davis lost the handle of the ball, which gave the Billikens the possession. The Billikens found Lancona who finished a layup and drew a foul. He was unable to finish the three-point play. They grew the lead to 60-56. The Cougars didn’t go away as they hit a three to cut the game to 60-59. Davell Roby went to the free-throw line and hit one of two, which grew the lead to 61-59. The Cougars couldn’t answer as the Billikens grabbed the rebound. Yacoubou went to the hoop and scored with a very athletic layup. This grew the lead to 63-59. Cougars called a timeout.
After the timeout, the Cougars drew a foul on freshman Marcus Bartley. The Cougars hit both free throws to cut the lead to 63-61. SLU called a timeout to set-up an inbounding play. The Billikens got the ball into McBroom who was fouled immediately. McBroom hit both free throws that grew the lead to 65-61. Cougars got a three off but missed and Manning got the rebound and hit both free throws. The lead grew to 67-61. The Cougars looked for an easy layup but Manning blocked it. The Billikens played good defense and held on to win 67-61. The blue light on top of Chaifetz Arena shined brightly tonight.
Quick Post-Game Thoughts:
- Going into the game the Billikens have 12 players that our averaging 12 minutes per game, Jim Crews has got to shorten the bench and go to players that he can depend on for great defense and offensive production. Once he does this, the players can begin to gel together and lead to better play offensively and defensively
- The Billikens need to improve on rebounding especially limiting offensive rebounds and opportunities to your opponents.
- The Billikens do a nice job at the beginning of both halves to get the ball into the post, but then they shy away from it, which causes the offense to stall.
- The Billikens need to learn how to kill off teams when you have the lead and beat teams that you are supposed to beat.
- The Billikens also need to work on free throw shooting. They need to be closer to 75% rather than 62%
- The Billikens should enjoy this win and still have shown signs of improvement, but they need to cut out the bad mistakes and improve on free throws and rebounding.
