Billikens Too Much
January 04, 2003 04:58 PM | General
January 4, 2003
ST. LOUIS – In its first 10 games, West Virginia had developed a reputation for being a strong second half team. That wasn’t the case Saturday at St. Louis.
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| West Virginia's Josh Yeager (22) and Joe Herber (24) put pressure on Saint Louis University's Izik Ohanon in the first half on Sauturday, Jan. 4, 2003, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam) |
The Billikens outscored the Mountaineers 45-27 in the second half on the way to an easy 75-45 non-conference victory in the Savvis Center.
“It’s such a mismatch in experience,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “We just didn’t have any answers for them offensively or defensively and that’s really where we lost the game.”
West Virginia overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to upset Tennessee, and also turned around deficits against Gardner-Webb, UNC Greensboro, Florida and James Madison.
Trailing St. Louis 30-18 at halftime today, West Virginia was looking for another comeback performance. St. Louis took care of that quickly with a 16-8 run to start the second half to build its lead to 20 points at 46-26. From there it was just a matter of the final score.
The Billikens had their way inside against West Virginia, overpowering the Mountaineers for several layups and dunks and holding a sizeable 29-14 rebounding edge.
“We were just not real physical with them -- we just don’t do that,” said Beilein. “We don’t respond well to that. If it gets physical they are not even there and that’s something with time we can nurture a little bit.”
St. Louis also shot 56.2 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three-point distance.
Izik Ohanon came off the bench to lead St. Louis with 18 points. SLU’s leading scorer Marque Perry, who came into the game averaging 15 points per game, tallied 14 and Drew Deiner added 10.
Drew Schifino was the only Mountaineer player to reach double figures with 22. He hit 10-of-16 field goal attempts for the game.
“He played very well and did some great things,” said Beilein. “He can score and he scores in crowds. If you can score 22 points against this defense you’re a pretty good player.”
Freshman Patrick Beilein added eight.
Senior Josh Yeager, starting in place of Tyrone Sally who was limited with a virus, managed to score just three points in 18 minutes of action.
St. Louis (6-5) took care of the basketball, committing just eight turnovers.
“That’s how they play and they’re very good at it,” said Beilein. “They’re a very good basketball team and I can’t understand a couple of their scores, but I can understand them beating Dayton and Southern Illinois, which are both very good.”
West Virginia drops to 8-3 with the loss. All three of WVU’s losses have come on the road.
“As a coach we’ve just got to turn this into a positive,” said Beilein. “If we can learn one thing from this particular game it could mean the difference in getting a win over Miami. We’re going to pride ourselves in being a bounce-back team.”
West Virginia begins Big East Conference play on Tuesday, Jan. 7, against Miami. Game time is 7 p.m.
Game Notes: West Virginia’s 45 points were its lowest this season and the fewest since scoring 45 during an 80-45 loss to Connecticut on Jan. 9, 1999 … West Virginia and St. Louis have played four times, but today’s game was the first on a non-neutral floor setting … St. Louis will return the game next year in Morgantown … West Virginia trailed by double figures at halftime for the third time this year (Duquesne and Tennessee) … former WVU and current St. Louis Rams quarterback Marc Bulger was at Saturday’s game.
