Dec. 19, 2001

Final Stats

St. Louis - Saint Louis junior guard Marque Perry tossed in 24 points and the Billikens handled Furman 73-59 tonight in a men's non-conference game at Savvis Center. The Bills also benefited from sophomore swingman Chris Sloan's career-high 11 points as SLU posted its third straight victory.

Both teams suffered through a cold-shooting first half as Saint Louis connected on only two of its first 16 shots, and the Paladins could make only three of 16. Furman forged its largest lead at 18-12 on back-to-back treys by guard Paul Foster and forward Karim Souchu with 8:30 remaining.

"They defended us differently than anyone else has this season, but they were having trouble scoring against us, too," Billikens head coach Lorenzo Romar said. "We thought once our offense caught up with our defense that we'd be OK, and that's pretty much what happened. Our guys adjusted and did a nice job on the offensive end."

Saint Louis closed the half with a 17-6 run to claim a 29-24 lead at the break. Perry tied the game at 20 with a jumper and scored eight consecutive points to give the Bills a lead they would never relinquish. The Bills ended the half shooting only 25.8 percent, but the Paladins weren't much better at 27.6 percent.

"We were getting our shots early, but we weren't hitting them," Perry said. "I kept pushing everyone to keep taking their shots, because eventually they'll go in. The guys were patient and kept playing."

The Billikens picked up their defensive intensity to begin the second half and pushed the lead to 39-29 on center Kenny Brown's tip-in at the 16:50 mark. Perry's triple highlighted an 11-0 run, and Saint Louis pushed the lead to 44-29 with 14:23 remaining. Saint Louis led by as many as 17.

Furman kept pressing and cut the lead to 11 with 2:59 remaining on guard Anthony Thomas' four-point play off a trey and a free throw off Brown's foul. But the Bills' Sloan answered with a conventional three-point play, and Saint Louis made enough free throws to keep the lead comfortable.

"It's the maturation process that every player goes through," said Sloan, who also contributed seven rebounds while splitting time at power forward with Ross Varner. "Things are up and down when you're a freshman, but you start to figure things out in your second year. I've been better playing down on the block, because I've had the chance to work against Chris Braun and Kenny Brown in practice every day. I try to use my quickness to my advantage."

Thomas led Furman (6-3) with 13 points, and guard Guilherme Da Luz added 10. The Paladins shot 37 percent from the field, turned the ball over 17 times and were out-rebounded 46-35. SLU guard Josh Fisher pestered the Paladins' guards by coming up with four steals.

The Billikens finished at 38.7 percent from the floor, but shot 45.5 percent from three. SLU also took better care of the ball with 14 assists and only 11 turnovers. The Bills' backcourt distributed the ball well as Perry, Fisher, Randy Pulley and Drew Diener each handed out three assists.

The Billikens (5-5) pay a visit to Dayton on Sat., Dec. 22, at 7 p.m. (CT) before returning to Savvis on Sat., Dec. 29, at 7:10 p.m.

- www.slubillikens.com -

Saint Louis Billikens Men's Basketball