ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — Eight teams descend upon the Boardwalk Hall with four spots in Saturday’s semi-final on the line. Pickin’ Splinters is court side with news, notes, updates and analysis. Grab a seat on the Pine and join in the discussion.
The evening session begins with #7 La Salle and #2 St. Louis doing battle.
The Billikens lead 8-6 in a series that dates back to the early 1950s. Saint Louis prevailed 59-51 earlier this year after Dwayne Evans recorded a double-double with 16 points and 13 boards for the Billikens’ 20th win of the year. The last time the Billikens met La Salle in the A-10 Tournament as in 2008, with the Billikens coming away with an overtime victory.
………………..SLU LAS
69.1………………………Scoring Offense………………………73.3
56.6……………………..Scoring Defense……………………..65.7
+12.4……………………Scoring Margin………………………+7.7
.453……………………….FG Percentage………………………..464
.406……………..Opponent FG Percentage………………413
.363………………………3FG Percentage……………………….404
.312…………….Opponent 3FG Percentage……………..315
.711………………..Free Throw Percentage…………………720
+1.8………………….Rebounding Margin…………………..-3.3
13.8……………………..Assists Per Game……………………..14.1
11.2………………….Turnovers Per Game………………….12.9
7.1………………………..Steals Per Game………………………..8.1
3.0………………………..Blocks Per Game………………………..3.3
SERIES HISTORY
Saint Louis leads the all-time series 8-6. The Billikens have won three out of the last four, including a 59-51 win earlier this year. The squads have met once before in the A-10 Tournament, a 62-60 overtime St. Louis win in Atlantic City in 2009.
All-time head to head results:
3/10/51 New York SLU 73-61
1/5/52 St. Louis SLU 62-46
12/26/53 New York LAS 77-63
2/27/54 Philadelphia LAS 96-82
1/2/55 St. Louis LAS 88-79
3/16/63 New York SLU 62-61
3/4/06 Philadelphia LAS 62-52
2/17/07 St. Louis SLU 59-55
1/26/08 Philadelphia SLU 81-74
3/7/09 St. Louis LAS 68-62
3/11/09 Atlantic City SLU 62-60•
2/6/10 Philadelphia SLU 68-65
2/9/11 St. Louis LAS 77-78
2/11/12 Philadelphia SLU 59-51
Make sure to hit the refresh button.
Starters for SLU: Kwamain Mitchell, Mike McCall Jr, Dwayne Evans, Brian Cnklin and Rob Loe
La Salle Starters: Ramon Galloway, Tyreek Duren, Earl Pettis, Sam Mills Jerrell Wright
Timeout LaSalle.
It has been all Billikens early on. St Louis has jumped out to a 10-2 lead with 16:05 to play.
After starting 4-of-7 from the floor, the Billikens have hit just 1-of-5 since then.
It has been all Explorers since the media TO: It has been a 13-2 run by LaSalle as they have climbed back in the game.
St. Louis nearly went 5:00 without a bucket.
St. Louis leads 16-15.
Is this going to be another close one?
U8 (7:19) SLU 18 LaSalle 15
The Explorers have hit 5-of-their-last 11
6:22 to play in the second half and we have had just 1 free throw so far.
I think we will are going to have another close one.
Turnovers are having a big part in keeping LaSalle in this game. St. Louis has turned the ball over 8 times.
The Explorers have converted those turnovers into 10 points.
St. Louis leads, 28-22.
SLU leads the battle on the boards 18-13, but the Explorers are crawling back in this category. La Salle outrebounded SLU 5-4 since the last timeout and it has been 11-11 since four minutes in.
Halftime: SLU 35 La Salle 29
Good sign for the Explorers: Earl Pettis connected twice from behind the arc in the final 3 minutes of the half. The senior has the capability of putting the team on his back. Against Temple in late February, Pettis hit 13 straight as the Explorers rallied from 10 down to go into overtime.
Kwamain Mitchell leads all scorers with 14.
SLU leads rebounds 20-16.
La Salle has scored 10 points off turnovers. The Billikens have not registered anything in this column.
La Salle’s Devon White came into the game averaging 6ppg and 4.8rpg. White has five points and three rebounds off the bench.
Explorers’ Ramon Galloway came into the game averaging 14.2 ppg.. His first basket didn’t come until the first minutes of the second half.
St. Louis leads 41-34.
U16 Media Timeout.
An offensive foul on Mitchell right before the timeout gives the ball back to the Explorers.
St. Louis continues to lead 41-34.
Billikens are starting to put the jets on – literally. Jordair Jett with the bucket and foul!!
Jett with shoot the free throw after the media timeout.
St. Louis leads 49-38.
A quick 5-0 run by the Explorers, highlighted by a three ball from Galloway has Majerus asking for timeout.
St. Louis leads 52-48.
Ramon Galloway and Earl Pettis have scored 9 of La Salle’s last 14.
The Explorers have caught the Billikens in field goals made (19) including threes (7). Difference now is at the line : SLU 7-9. La Salle 3-4.
LaSalle 14-4 run over 3:51 closes the gap to 2 before McCall connects for SLU.
Bills 57-52.
4:17 SLU 57 La Salle 56
1 of 2 free throws by Mitchell and the Billikens have now extended their lead to 2.
60-58 with 2:56 to play.
Another great one!!
1:22 to go: SLU 65-58
Teams are trading baskets – not what the Explorers need right now.
37.3 seconds to go and Billikens lead 71-67.
Don’t go away. The Explorers get a held ball and possession with 19.1 to go down 74-69.
4.7 seconds left. St. Louis is shooting 2 FTs and has a 77-71 lead.
All 3 Philadelphia based teams will be eliminated from the A-10 Tournament.
It is a final:
St. Louis advances to the A-10 semi-finals with a 78-71 win over LaSalle.
They will face the winner of the Xavier/Dayton game.