Saint Louis University continued its impressive run during the college basketball season with a 82-54 victory over LaSalle on Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd at the Chaifetz Arena.
The No. 18 Billikens won their 17th consecutive game to improve their overall record to 23-1 and 11-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. SLU is currently in first place in the A-10 by two games over second place VCU and George Mason.
The Billikens struggled to a 31-27 halftime lead as LaSalle employed a strong, physical defense that slowed SLU down. However, things changed in the second half as the Billikens scored 51 points and shot a sizzling 58 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range as they hit 10 triples.
The score was 54-48 with less than 10 minutes to play in the game when Ishan Sharma and Brady Dunlap combined to make three consecutive 3-pointers to give the Billikens a 63-48. The Billikens scored on eight of nine possessions during their 22-6 run in the second half to break open the game.
Sharma led the Billikens with 15 points on five of nine shooting from 3-point range. Sophomore Amari McCottry finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Junior Quentin Jones had 13 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots while senior guard Dion Brown finished with 12 points. Senior Robbie Avila had nine points and a team-high eight assists.
Last Tuesday night, the Billikens rallied back from a 15-point first-half deficit to defeat Davidson 91-82 in North Carolina. Dunlap led the Billikens with 22 points, including a perfect six for six from 3-point range. Avila scored 17 points while McCottry added 14 points.
Saint Louis U. returns to action on Friday night when it travels to Chicago to take on Loyola of Chicago. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN-2 and broadcast on KMOX-AM 1120.