A tipin at the final buzzer that required an extended review by game officials of television replay monitors to determine the outcome of the contest saw the Saint Louis Billikens get the call in a 51-50 basketball victory over the Missouri State Bears Monday night in St. Louis. The non-conference result left both teams 9-2 for the season.
After a missed Bears’ field goal try rebounded by the Billikens with 11 seconds left, Saint Louis got two cracks at the basket. The second, by Tommie Liddell from along the right baseline, rimmed out but SLU center Ian Vouyoukas tipped the ball in. The replay showed the tip left his hand ahead of the horn and Saint Louis had its only lead of the second half.
The 40-minute defensive struggle saw the Bears hit just .231 (6/26) field goal tries in the second half as they watched a 46-35 lead with 9:29 to play slip away by getting just one field goal and two free throws from that point until the end of the contest. For the game, Missouri State’s .315 (17/54) shooting was easily the Bears’ lowest of the season as they finished 16 points below their prevous low point total and 28 points below their season scoring average. Saint Louis became the first team in seven games to shoot above 40 percent against the Bears as the Bills finished at .442 (19/43), enjoyed a 39-29 rebound margin over Missouri State, and blocked 10 of the Bears’ 54 shot attempts.
The spurt by Saint Louis and scoring drought by Missouri State in the closing minutes were in keeping with the scoring patterns of the entire ballgame. The Bills jumped out to a 10-2 lead the first three minutes of the contest but the Bears then held Saint Louis scoreless for more than 10 minutes. The Bears chalked up 12 unanswered points in that run for a 14- 10 lead. There were two stretches of three minutes each in that 10-minute span where the Bears didn’t score either. Three ties and four lead changes sent the Bears into the locker room with a 30-25 halftime edge.
In spite of their cold shooting after intermission, the Bears stayed solid on defense and kept increasing their lead with key baskets and free throws to grab a 10-point edge at 42-32 with 11:59 to play. When Dale Lamberth’s basket with 9:29 to play made it 46-35, Missouri State looked to be in control. The Bears got even colder from that point on, however, as four Saint Louis baskets and two free throws cut the MSU lead to 46-45 with 4:13 left. Lamberth added a goal at the 4:01 mark which Saint Louis answered, and then Nathan Bilyeu tossed in a pair of free throws with 3:18 to play to make it 50- 47. Those were the Bears’ final points and a jumper by Luke Meyer with 44 seconds remaining and Vouyoukas’ tipin at the final buzzer final got Saint Louis over the top.
Deven Mitchell came off the bench to score 15 points for the Bears and Bilyeu added 11. Kevin Lisch scored 15 to lead Saint Louis.
Missouri State continues its stretch of four road games with a visit Friday (Dec. 22) to South Florida. Tipoff is 6 p.m. (CST).
