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WASHINGTON – No. 5 seed Saint Louis defeated No. 12 seed Davidson 83-75 Thursday in a second-round matchup of the 2025 Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Basketball Championship at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
The Billikens (19-13) advance to face fourth-seeded Loyola Chicago Friday at 1 p.m. (CT) in the quarterfinals. Davidson closes its season at 17-16.
Isaiah Swope and Gibson Jimerson led the way for the Bills with 26 and 25 points, respectively. Jimerson drained six treys, while Swope poured in five 3-pointers.
Robbie Avila added a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. He also dished out a game-high seven assists. Amari McCottry provided 19 valuable minutes and finished with a career-high 15 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field.
Jimerson broke another record on Thursday, surpassing Erwin Claggett’s single-season 3s record of 103 set back in 1994-95. Jimerson is now at 109 3-pointers this season.
The Billikens’ 12 3-pointers are tied for the most they have scored in an A-10 Championship game. SLU’s 83 points were the third-most it has scored in A-10 Championship history.
Saint Louis led by as many as 13 points in the opening half and held a six-point advantage at halftime, but had to come back in the second half as Davidson led by four at 51-47 with just under 11 minutes to go.
SLU engineered an 11-0 run to go back on top, only to see Davidson drain three consecutive 3-pointers to regain the lead.
Swope, who has been the Billikens’ go-to in clutch situations this season, responded with consecutive treys and SLU would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
After yielding the first basket of the game, the Billikens went on a 13-2 run and led 17-4 at one point for their largest lead of the game. Jimerson and Swope led all scorers with 11 points at halftime as SLU led 36-31 at the break.
