ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Saint Louis sophomore guard Mike McCall Jr. scored 16 points and junior guard Kwamain Mitchell had 15 to lead the Billikens to a 78-71 win over La Salle Friday night to advance to the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament semifinals.
Senior forward Brian Conklin scored 14 points and sophomore guard Jordair Jett had 13 for the No. 2-seed Billikens (25-6), who have won nine of their last 10 games and are the highest remaining seed left in the tournament. Top-seeded Temple was eliminated by Massachusetts earlier.
The Billikens face either No. 3 Xavier or No. 6 Dayton Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (CT). The game will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.
“I thought our guys played hard,” SLU head coach Rick Majerus said. “I thought they played very smart and with toughness.”
The Billikens shot 44.6 percent from the field and an impressive 86.4 percent (19-22) from the free-throw line. Mitchell dished out a game-high seven assists. Dwayne Evans recorded nine points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Earl Pettis scored 18 points, Ramon Galloway had 14 and Tyreek Duren 13 for the Explorers (21-12).
Saint Louis raced to a 12-point first-half lead and appeared to have the game under control until La Salle got hot late. Pettis hit a pull-up jumper to pull La Salle within two and Jerrell Wright’s dunk made it 57-56. That was as close as they would get.
McCall’s 3-pointer with 1:34 remaining made it 65-58, helping Saint Louis advance.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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