February 25, 2009 | AP Press

OLEAN, N.Y. — Jonathan Hall scored a career-high 31 points and had seven rebounds Wednesday to lead St. Bonaventure past Saint Louis, 72-55.

Maurice Thomas scored 14 points for the Bonnies (14-13, 5-9 Atlantic 10) and pulled down nine rebounds. Michael Davenport chipped in eight points for St. Bonaventure.

For the Billikens (17-11, 8-6 Atlantic 10), Kwamain Mitchell led the way with 15 points. Kevin Lisch scored 13 points, while Tommie Liddell III and Willie Reed each added seven.

The Bonnies controlled the game from tip-off, trailing only once, by 5-4, at 16:15 in the first half. After Thomas hit the game’s first basket, Hall set the tone for the Bonnies, scoring 10 points in a row and keying a 13-6 run.

Hall’s 31 points were the most scored by a St. Bonaventure player since Zaryon Fereti scored 32 in last season’s home opener against Binghamton.

AP Photo

February 21, 2009 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS, MO – Kevin Lisch had 16 points and six rebounds to lead Saint Louis to a 57-49 victory over No. 25 Dayton on Saturday night.

Tommie Liddell added 10 points and five assists for the Billikens (17-10, 8-5 Atlantic 10), which has won six of seven.

Chris Wright led the Flyers (23-4, 9-3) with 11 points points. and Charles Little and Marcus Johnson added 10 points apiece. The loss was Dayton’s second in its last 11 games.

Dayton trailed 28-24 at the half, but scored the first five points after the break to take its first lead. The game see-sawed after that with neither team leading by more than three until Kwamain Mitchell converted a three-point play that gave Saint Louis a 47-42 lead with 3:25 left.

The Flyers pulled to 49-47 on Wright’s three free throws, but Eberhardt hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with 1:12 left to push the lead to 52-49. Lisch made two free throws to gave Saint Louis a 54-47 lead with 38.9 seconds left, and hit three more from the line down the stretch to seal the win.

Playing before the first packed house at Chaifetz Arena (10,603), Saint Louis scored first and stretched the lead to 22-12 when Mitchell drove to the basket and hit a runner with 8:43 left in the first half.

The Flyers began to chip away after that. Dayton scored the last four points of the half on a drive by Mickey Perry and a baseline jumper by Paul Williams with 1:13 left that made it 28-24.

February 19, 2009 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS, MO — Kwamain Mitchell hit a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points to lead Saint Louis over Saint Joseph’s 73-71 on Wednesday night.

Kevin Lisch added 15 for points the Billikens (16-10, 7-5 Atlantic 10), who won for the fifth time in six games and sent Saint Joseph’s (14-11, 7-4) to a third straight loss.

The Hawks’ Ahmad Nivins recorded a conference-leading 17th double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds, despite being held scoreless for the final 9:56 of the game.

Saint Louis used a 7-2 run early in the second half to take the lead for good at 53-48.

Mitchell’s final 3-pointer put the Billikens up 68-64 with 1:10 left.

A 3-pointer by Garrett Williamson brought the Hawks within 72-71 with 2.3 seconds remaining, but Lisch sank a free throw and Nivins’ desperation shot from 30 feet at the buzzer fell short.

Barry Eberhardt added 14 points and Willie Reed came off the bench to score 11 for Saint Louis.

February 14, 2009 by Chris Frechette | A10CollegeHoops

KINGSTON, RI — Rhode Island started off their contest against St. Louis in much different fashion than their win over St. Bonaventure last Wednesday, but the outcome was still the same.  “It’s real important to grab an early lead, especially after the St. Bonaventure game,” said URI Coach Jim Baron.  That seemed to be in the minds of all URI players after they fell behind by 15 points at the half this past Wednesday against the Bonnies.

URI jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game scoring on its first four possessions highlighted by a Marquis Jones to Lamonte Ulmer alley oop.

Ulmer was huge in the Rams victory scoring a game high 18 points on 8 of 9 shooting from the field, which included four layups and four dunks, two of which were alley oops.  “I feed off of the crowd, but not too much,” he said.  “I feed off of my teammates.  I’m thankful to the crowd, it’s a good feeling to do something productive and help the team.  It just feels good.”  Coach Baron was singing Ulmer’s praises, “Lamonte plays with such high energy, it’s good to have that kind of athletic ability.”

St. Louis (15-10, 6-5 A-10) battled back to cut the Rams lead to 14-13 on a Willie Reed (9 points, 6 rebounds) dunk at the 10:01 mark despite turning the ball over 7 times at that point.  The turnover situation would be huge in this game as the Billikens would go on to turn the ball over 20 times to just 8 for URI.  The Rams physical defense lead to 8 steals, but St. Louis just didn’t take very good care of the ball as they passed the ball out of bounds, twice when noone was in the area of the pass.

Coach Baron was pleased with his teams effort, “We knew it would be a hard fought game, they beat us last year and we knew how physical it would be,” he said.  “We made some adjustments with our pressure, and we turned them over 20 times and took it to the basket, and we had 18 assists.”

The Rams took much better care of the ball, led by point guards Marquis Jones and Stevie Mejia, who combined for 10 assists and just 4 turnovers.  “We battle every day in practice and pressure each other and make each other better,” Mejia said.

Rhode Island (18-8, 7-4 A-10) built up its biggest  lead at 57-42 with 5:17 left in the game as Kahiem Seawright slipped under the defense for a layup on a pass from Mejia.  Seawright posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Even down by 15 points it didn’t feel as though the Billikens were out of the game.  Rhode Island was only 8 of 18 from the free throw line at that point and if St. Louis was going to get back into the game, it may have been because of the Rams shaky foul shooting.  But down the stretch URI was perfect from the  charity stripe knocking down all 6 of its free throws, although one was called back for a lane violation on Ben Eaves.  “We got to keep working on our free throw shooting and concentrate better,” said Coach Baron.

With the win, Rhode Island improved to 11-1 at home this season and it was URI’s first win over SLU since February 14, 2007.

It was another sweet Valentine’s Day for the Rams and the 5,214 fans in attendance at the Ryan Center.

February 8, 2009 by Patrick Gill | A10CollegeHoops

RICHMOND, VA – St. Louis and Richmond had already competed for nearly 50 hard fought minutes, but apparently, Kevin Lisch was not ready to stop playing yet. With his team down 3 and only 4.6 seconds remaining in the second overtime, Lisch caught an inbounds pass on the right sideline, split a double team, and drained a three pointer at the buzzer to send the game into a third overtime. In the third overtime ,with the Billikens (5-4 A-10, 14-9) leading by one Lisch hit his fifth three of the game with 2:26 remaining and St. Louis went on to beat the Spiders (3-5, 11-12) 85-72 on Saturday afternoon. Lisch finished the contest with a game-high 27 points and his backcourt mate Kwamaine Mitchell added 23.

Early in the game it was clear points would be at a premium as both teams struggled to produce cohesive offensive possesions. Richmond’s match-up zone was able to limit the Billikens penetration and the St. Louis guards returned the favor by harassing the Spiders high-scoring back court. Despite Lisch’s timely shooting, the Spiders were able to maintain a small advantage, and went into halftime with a 2 point lead.

The second half was much of the same as the Spiders’ stingy defense allowed them to continue to possess a small lead the majority of the half. Late in regulation, Richmond’s offense came alive and David Gonzalvez capped a 7-2 run by hitting two free throws to give the Spiders a 58-52 lead with 3:07 remaining.

However, this would be the last time Richmond would find the bottom of the net in regulation, and Kwamain Mitchell capped of a 6-0 Billiken run by sinking two foul shots with a 1:23 remaining, to knot the score at 58. The teams then exchanged empty possessions enabling the Spiders to hold for the last shot. The Billikens dug in and forced an off-balance Kevin Anderson runner that bounced harmlessly off the rim and forced overtime.

In the first overtime, Richmond held a three point lead and the ball with 1:03 remaining but St. Louis turned two costly turnovers by David Gonzalez into three Billiken foul shots and a second extra session. With Richmond up one in the second overtime Kevin Anderson strolled to the line and calmly sank two foul shots to put the Spiders up three with 11 seconds remaining. Richmond then knocked the ball out of bounds on the right sideline with 4.6 seconds on the clock, setting the stage for Lisch heroics.

When the senior caught the ball, it appeared Richmond’s Ryan Butler and David Gonzalvez had him trapped, but he was able to break loose and deliver the game’s biggest shot. On the decision not to foul at the end of the game, Richmond Head Coach Chris Mooney stated, “We discussed fouling but they had not gotten many good looks at all…In retrospect we should have fouled there and made sure we got the defensive rebound on the intentional miss.”

Still reeling from letting the opportunity to close the game out slip away, the Spiders were outscored 14-1 in the third overtime and the Billikens walked out of the Robins center with a three game win streak.  Kevin Smith was the Spiders most effective offensive player in a game where they struggled to find open looks. The sophomore wing connected on seven of his ten field goal attempts and had several key buckets in crunch time. The usually efficient duo of Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez combined for 29 points but were a subpar 10 of 32 from the field. Gonzalvez admitted the hard-nosed nature of the Billikens makes it tough to operate, “They’re a very physical team. They’re probably one of the best defensive teams in the conference.”

Despite the heartbreaking loss, Gonzalvez knows the Spiders cannot feel sorry for themselves with upstart Duquense coming to Robins Center on Wednesday. “We have to realize how close we close we are. It’s tough but we have to keep pushing.”

February 4, 2009 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS, MO — Kevin Lisch scored 21 points to lead Saint Louis over Duquesne 78-74 in overtime Wednesday night.

Tommie Liddell III added 13 points and Willie Reed scored 12 for the Billikens (13-9, 4-4 Atlantic 10), who hit only 7-of-15 free throws in the second half but made 7-of-8 in the extra period.

Duquesne’s Aaron Jackson scored 29 points, including a long jumper at the first buzzer that tied the game at 63. Officials looked at a replay and ruled Jackson was just inside the 3-point arc.

Damien Saunders added 14 points and Bill Clark contributed 13 for the Dukes (14-7, 5-3) before fouling out.

Saint Louis led 62-54 with 2:35 remaining in regulation but couldn’t hold the lead.

January 31, 2009 | AP Press

NEW YORK, NY– Barry Eberhardt scored 26 points and Saint Louis shot 63 percent from the field in routing Fordham 88-58 on Saturday night.

Willie Reed added 17 points for the Billikens (12-9, 3-4 Atlantic 10), who led 44-27 at the half.

Jacob Green led the Rams (3-16, 1-6) with 16 points and Mike Moore had 14 points. Fordham has lost nine of 10.

Jio Fontan made a jumper for the Rams to cut the lead to 23-21 with 9:08 left in the first half.

The Billikens then went on a 14-0 run, and led 37-21 with 3:59 left in the first half when Tom Liddell made a 3-pointer.

Saint Louis was 31-for-49 from the field and snapped a three-game losing streak.

January 29, 2009 | AP Press

DAYTON, OH — Marcus Johnson’s dunk off an alleyoop pass from Rob Lowery with 1:06 to play gave Dayton a 47-46 victory Thursday night in a defense-dominant struggle with Saint Louis.

Chris Wright had 16 points for Dayton (19-2, 5-1 Atlantic 10), and Charles Little had 14.

Kwamain Mitchell led the Billikens (11-9, 2-4) with 15 points, but his 8-foot jumper with 4 seconds left fell off the rim.

Dayton trailed 28-27 at the half en route to a record 15th straight victory in UD Arena. The Flyers are 8-0 this season in games decided by five points or less, and this one included five ties and 11 lead changes.

January 25, 2009 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS, MO – Justin Harper had 19 points and eight rebounds and Richmond overcame poor second-half shooting to end Saint Louis’ nine-game home winning streak with a 70-62 victory on Sunday.

David Gonzalvez added 15 points and hit four free throws in the final 36 seconds for Richmond (11-8, 3-1 Atlantic 10). The Spiders built an 11-point halftime lead on 60.9 percent shooting, including a 6-for-8 start from 3-point range, and survived shooting only 33 percent in the second half.

Kevin Lisch scored 18 points and Tommie Liddell III had 13 points and nine rebounds for Saint Louis (11-8, 2-3), which entered 10-1 at the new Chaifetz Arena with the lone loss in overtime against Kent State in November. Saint Louis cut the deficit to four points in the final minute.

Billikens freshman point guard Kwamain Mitchell missed the game three days after sustaining a concussion in a collision with teammate Paul Eckerle in the second half of a loss at Temple. Eckerle, who got his second career start in place of Mitchell, scored three points.

Richmond was 6-for-8 from 3-point range to start the game, including two from long range in a 12-1 run from a tie score to a 30-19 lead with about three minutes to go in the half. The Spiders shot 60.9 percent overall taking a 34-23 lead into the break, with five players hitting at least one 3-pointer.

The Spiders finished with eight 3-pointers, most against Saint Louis this season, but made only two of their last 10. Three players, including Harper, finished with four fouls. Francis-Cedric Martel added a career-best 14 points and seven rebounds.

Lisch had a strong game for Saint Louis after being held scoreless on 0-for-10 shooting in a 65-40 loss at Temple on Thursday.

January 22, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Lavoy Allen scored 16 points and Craig Williams added 11 as Temple cruised to a 65-40 victory over Saint Louis on Thursday night.

Allen shot 8-for-10 for the Owls (10-7, 2-1 Atlantic 10), who connected on 28 of 52 shots. Dionte Christmas, the A-10’s leading scorer, sustained a cut over his eye with 13:17 left and did not return.

Tommie Liddell had 12 points for Saint Louis (11-7, 2-2), which was held to its lowest point total of the season. Leading scorer Kevin Lisch, averaging 13.8 points, was held scoreless and missed all 10 of his shots.

The Owls, who hit nine of their first 10 shots, build a 27-7 lead midway through the first half.

Hitting from the inside and outside, Temple raced to a 43-16 halftime advantage. Allen led the way, shooting 6-for-6 from the field.

The closest the Billikens came in the second half was the final 15-point margin.

Saint Louis freshman guard Kwamain Mitchell collided with a teammate with 2:29 left and sustained a neck injury. He was carried off the court and taken to a hospital for observation. There was no immediate word on his condition.