|
Billikens gain edge in tussle for tourney slots
From wire and staff reports
Box Score
ST. LOUIS — Any thoughts that East Carolina might sneak
into town and snatch its first-ever Conference USA road win at the
expense of a euphoria-distracted Saint Louis team were quickly dispelled
on Saturday.
Marque Perry scored a game-high 22
points, including 15 in the first half, as the Billikens retained their
focus in the afterglow of upsetting No. 2 Louisville earlier in the week
and trounced the cold-shooting Pirates 56-42.
Josh Fisher and Chris Sloan added 10 points apiece for
SLU (10-12 overall, 4-7 Conference USA), which has won its
past four home games, including Wednesday's 59-58 toppling of the
Cardinals.
Erroyl Bing had 11 points for the Pirates (12-10, 3-8),
who have lost their past seven road games and all 14 of their league
road contests since joining C-USA last season.
With the victory, Saint Louis seized an advantage on ECU
in the 14-team scrum for berths in the March conference tournament,
which will invite the top 12 teams. The Billikens moved into 6th place
in the seven-team American Division, relegating the Pirates to the
cellar.
Other teams in danger of missing out on berths include
Southern Miss and Texas Christian, the bottom teams in the National
Division heading into Saturday's games. The Golden Eagles were 3-7 going
into a home contest with DePaul, while TCU was 2-8 entering its night
game on the road at Tulane.
East Carolina, trailing 30-14 at halftime, closed to
within 32-20 of the Billikens with 16:44 left.
But five minutes later, Saint Louis had its largest lead
of the game at 41-22 and never looked back.
In rolling to a 30-14 halftime lead, Saint Louis
outscored East Carolina 17-1 in the final 11:31 of the first half. Perry
scored eight unanswered points on three jumpers during the run.
East Carolina's only point during that stretch was a
free throw by Bing at 6:45, and the Pirates missed their last 11
field-goal attempts in the half, finishing the half having missed 15 of
their 20 shots while St. Louis made half of its 28 tries.
Saint Louis finished 23-of-51 (45.1%) from the field, while East
Carolina connected on only 13 of 40 (32.5%).
ECU will now have back-to-back opportunities at home to
improve its position in the conference standings, hosting DePaul on
Tuesday night (7 PM, WITN-TV 7) and cross-state rival Charlotte on
Saturday night (7 PM.)
|
BOX
SCORE
East Carolina
(12-10, 3-8) 42, Saint Louis (10-12, 4-7) 56
EAST CAROLINA (42)
Player FG
FT PTS
Bing
4-6 3-4 11
Mikulas 3-6
3-4 9
Rivers
2-7 1-4 6
Moore
0-7 0-0 0
Holcomb-Faye 3-9 2-2
10
MacKay
1-2 0-0 2
Rouse
0-0 0-0 0
Boddie
0-2 0-0 0
Badiane 0-1
4-4 4
Totals
13-40 13-18 42
SAINT LOUIS (56)
Player FG
FT PTS
Sloan
4-9 2-2 10
Brown
4-5 0-0 8
Fisher
4-7 0-1 10
Perry
9-17 4-6 22
Diener
0-7 0-0 0
Drejaj
0-2 2-2 2
Hunt
0-0 0-0 0
Shortal 0-0
0-0 0
Ohanon
2-3 0-0 4
Braun
0-1 0-0 0
Totals
23-51 8-11 56
Halftime: Saint Louis 30, East
Carolina 14.
3-point goals: East Carolina
3-17 (Bing 0-2, Rivers 1-5, Moore 0-3, Holcomb-Faye 2-4, MacKay 0-1,
Boddie 0-2); Saint Louis 2-15 (Sloan 0-2, Fisher 2-3, Perry 0-3,
Drejaj 0-1, Diener 0-5, Ohanon 0-1).
Rebounds: East Carolina 31 (Bomg
10); Saint Louis 29 (Brown 6).
Assists: East Carolina 7
(Holcomb-Faye 2), Saint Louis 13 (Drejaj 6).
Total fouls: East Carolina 13,
Saint Louis 17.
Fouled out: None.
Technical fouls: Holcomb-Faye.
Attendance: 8,325. |
02/23/2007 10:56 AM
Copyright 2003
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Bonesville.net contributed to this report.
|
