St. Louis – The Saint Louis Billikens came out on top of a knock-down, drag-out battle on their home court as SLU earned a 69-55 victory Wednesday night over Nebraska at Chaifetz Arena. With the loss, the Huskers fell to 1-1 on the young season while Saint Louis improved to 2-0, including 16-3 at home in their two-year old facility.
The physical action started right at the beginning as Nebraska starting center Jorge Brian Diaz left the game less than a minute into the contest with a bloodied mouth that turned out to be a loosened tooth that kept him in the locker room all the rest of the first half. From there, Saint Louis had the upperhand establishing the momentum early on, holding the Huskers scoreless for the first 4:15 before Toney McCray knocked down a jumper to pull Nebraska within 7-2. McCray and senior guard Sek Henry led the Huskers’ first-half comeback as Nebraska battled to tie the game at 26-26 before heading into the break down by a point, 28-27.
McCray added eight points in the first half, including a putback of his own miss that pulled Nebraska within four, 16-12, at the 11:28 mark before Henry got into the action. The Los Angeles native scored NU’s next six points including his final basket off a highlight play from fellow senior Ryan Anderson.
After a long SLU possession that came down to a one-on-one matchup with Anderson against the Billikens’ Kwamain Mitchell, Anderson stripped the ball as the shot clock wound down under 5 and he started the break going the opposition direction. Henry came down one side with Brandon Richardson on the other, and Anderson found Henry for the easy driving layup that pulled Nebraska within four at 24-20. Anderson had another nifty pass, this time to a cutting Brandon Ubel, who made an easy score to knot the game at 26-all with 3:24 to play in the half.
Nebraska’s comeback in the first half was led by its stingy defense, as the Huskers held SLU to only one basket over the final 7:33 of the opening period. NU hit 47.8 percent from the field while the Billikens knocked down just 38.5 percent before heading into the locker room.
Anderson opened the second half with a jumper that gave Nebraska its first lead of the game at 29-28, but the BIllikens quickly found their offensive stride again.
Mitchell put in a pair of baskets and Kyle Cassity added a 3-pointer as SLU opened a 35-31 lead with 15:57 to play. Christian Salecich and Mitchell added consecutive 3-pointers to give Saint Louis a 10-point lead, 41-31, forcing a Nebraska timeout with 14:52 to play. Salecich’s second trey in less than two minutes made it 13 points in favor of SLU. NU cut the lead to eight twice, but the Billikens put the lead back in double figures the rest of the way.
The SLU victory came as the Billikens hit nearly 50 percent from the floor in the second period while limiting Nebraska to just 33 percent. Henry led the Huskers with 14 points and Anderson added 10 but the shooting of Saint Louis’s Mitchell was too much to overcome as he finished with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.
Nebraska returns to action at home on Saturday, Nov. 21, when the Huskers play host to the TCU Horned Frogs at the Devaney Center. The game will tip off at 1 p.m. and can be heard on 105.3 FM in Lincoln and 93.3 FM in Omaha, as well as around the world for free on Huskers.com.
