Saint Louis' Defense Stymies Upstate

Wednesday, December 17

University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics

Saint Louis

12/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Dec. 17, 2008

Box Score

St. Louis, Mo. - Saint Louis basketball games are typically low-scoring affairs and Wednesday night was no difference as the Billikens used solid defense and offensive rebounding to take a 55-38 victory over USC Upstate Wednesday night in the Chaifetz Arena in the first game of the four-game Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic.

The 38 points scored by Upstate tied the second-lowest scoring output in school history and was the lowest since the Spartans fell, 41-40, to Tusculum on Dec. 10, 2001. Upstate fell to 0-8 on the year and will travel to Fresno State for a 7:00 p.m. Pacific time, 10:00 p.m. Eastern tip-off in the second game of the LVC. Saint Louis improved to 5-4 on the year and will host Liberty Friday night in its second game of the tournament.

"I thought coming in this was going to be a difficult matchup for us and that proved to be the case," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "We had a hard time scoring. The offensive rebounds they got kept alive their possessions and they scored off of them many times. That was a key statistic."

Saint Louis took a 21-17 lead into halftime. When the Billikens came out of the break, they used two key offensive rebounds to score its first five points of the second half on second-chance opportunities. The offensive glass allowed Saint Louis to open a 26-19 lead. The Billikens went on to build a 13-point lead early in the second half. Upstate was able to cut the lead to 10 points, but could get no closer as Saint Louis went on for the 17-point win.

Saint Louis outscored Upstate 14-0 in second-chance points for the game, coming away with 14 offensive rebounds. The Billikens also forced Upstate into 13 turnovers and scored 16 points off Spartan miscues.

Though Saint Louis held off Upstate in the second half and was never really threatened, it was not the case in the first half, despite Bobby Davis having to sit with two early fouls.

With Davis on the bench for nine minutes of the first half after picking up his second foul at with 16:32 to play before halftime, Upstate was in for a battle to find offensive production. However, the Spartans were able to weather the storm and when the senior forward was inserted back into the lineup with 7:51 to play, the Spartans seemed to get a bounce in their step.

Nick Schneiders took over the offensive load midway through the first half. After Saint Louis used Upstate's poor shooting to build a 19-9 lead, Schneiders' gritty play down low helped bring the Spartans back into the game. He converted two free throws with 5:47 to play to break a more than five-minute scoring drought and end the Billikens' 15-2 run.

Schneiders went on to score six of Upstate's final eight points of the half to get within four, 21-17, at the break. Upstate also picked up its defensive intensity, limiting Saint Louis to just one basket in the final 6:30. In one stretch, Upstate forced two missed shots and two turnovers as the Spartans rallied to cut the lead to 19-17 with 3:31 to play. Josh Chavis came up with a steal and fed De'Marion Gordon for a breakaway layup during the run 8-0 run.

Neither team was what you would call pretty from the floor in the first half. Upstate was just 7-of-24 from the floor and connected on just 1-of-4 from behind the three-point arc. Saint Louis was not much better, converting 10-of-27 from the floor and just 1-of-8 from behind the arc.

"I have played against Rick's teams and they have always been tough defensively," said Payne. "They are very well coached defensively. They really, really try hard to take things that you like away from you and they did that tonight."

The 17 points scored by Upstate was its lowest point production in a half this year, topping the 18 points it scored in the first half at Georgia in the season opener. The 21 points scored by Saint Louis was its third-lowest scoring total in a half this year. Schneiders finished with eight points in the first half while no other Spartan had more than three.

Schneiders had a solid night for the Spartans, finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. Despite finishing 4-of-14 from the floor, he had several strong moves to the basket to create scoring opportunities.

"Nick did a very good job and made some very strong moves to the basket," said Payne. "He just didn't finish. Everything was right at the rim. I thought he played a pretty good game. We just need him to finish better and that's a product of strength."

Davis finished with 11 points and five rebounds in 28 minutes of play, nearly eight minutes off his average. Only three other Spartans scored on the night. Gordon added six, while Chavis and Mezie Uzochukwu added five and four, respectively.

Tommie Liddell led Saint Louis with a double-double, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five assists and three steals. Kevin Lisch and Willie Reed added 11 apiece for the Billikens.