Brooklyn, NY (Sports Network) - Not even 11 free-throw attempts over the final
five seconds would have bailed out Charlotte Friday.
Dwayne Evans had 25 points and nine rebounds in No. 16 Saint Louis' 72-55
rout of the 49ers in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Evans was nearly perfect. He was 8-of-9 from the field and 9-of-9 from the
foul line. Cody Ellis added 13 points, but was just 3-of-13 from the floor and
1-of-7 from beyond the arc for the Billikens (25-6), who have won 13 of their
last 14 games.
Saint Louis will play the winner of the Butler/La Salle contest in Saturday's
semifinals.
Charlotte (21-11) was trailing, 63-60, in the closing seconds of its first-
round matchup with Richmond. After the Spiders elected to foul to try to
prevent the 49ers from connecting on a game-tying 3-pointer, madness ensued.
Thanks to a trio of technicals called on the Spiders, Pierria Henry hit eight
of his 11 foul shots on Charlotte's final possession to lift the 49ers to a
68-63 win.
Chris Braswell tallied 20 points and 10 rebounds Friday in defeat.
The Billikens raced out to a 17-8 start and never looked back.
After consecutive 3-pointers by Ivan Benkovic and Braswell cut the deficit to
19-16 midway through the opening half, Saint Louis countered with a 13-0 run
to regain control.
Mike McCall had seven points during the surge, which was capped on a Rob Loe
triple for a 32-16 Saint Louis advantage. At that point, the Billikens netted
16 points off 11 Charlotte turnovers.
The Billikens took a 39-28 advantage into the break and led by as many as 18
over the final 20 minutes.
Game Notes
Billikens head coach Jim Crews, filling in for the late Rick Majerus, led his
squad to their first outright regular-season conference title since capturing
the Missouri Valley Conference in 1956-57 ... Saint Louis shot just 37.5
percent (21-of-56) but forced 20 turnovers while giving the ball away just 10
times ... The Billikens also outscored the 49ers 25-12 at the free throw line.
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