Saint Louis (12-1) defeated Texas Southern (1-10) 71-39 at home in a convincing manner on Tuesday night.
Brian Conklin’s 15 points led the Billikens to their fifth consecutive win. The only other player to score in double figures was Mike McCall Jr., who totaled 10 points off the Billikens bench.
Saint Louis led the entire way, including holding a 37 point lead twice.
From the tip-off, Saint Louis scored six unanswered points. The Tigers finally responded at the 17:05 mark with a lay-up by Aaron Clayborn. Texas Southern then went on a 9-6 run to tighten the score to 12-9. Both teams scored one free throw a piece that kept the gap at just only three points at the 11:58 mark.
The three point deficit Texas Southern faced early in the contest was the closest shot they had to take the lead. The Billikens stretched their margin when eight different players contributed to the 28-9 run to close out the half making the score 41-19.
Texas Southern’s horrid play continued in the second half as their deficit increased. Although the Tigers scored the first basket off a lay-up by Deangelo Scott, the Billikens answered with an 11-4 run making the score 52-23 at the 14:26 mark.
The 19 point lead grew enormously after a 17-9 Billikens run that extended their lead to 37 points, the largest lead of the game.
With 5:19 left in the game the Tigers scored on a tip-in by DaQuan Joyner making the score 69-34, but Saint Louis scored after a McCall seal that lead to an easy jumper in transition by Jordair Jett bring the lead back to 37 with a score of 71-34.
Texas Southern then closed out the game with five unanswered points.
Offensively, Saint Louis shot 48 percent from the field and seven players had at least six points.
Omar Strong was the leading scorer for Texas Southern with nine points. The Tigers’ next matchup will be against Arkansas on Dec. 30.
