A Little Public Service

[jmolina]

Dear folks,

some of you here may or may not know I work for a weekly newspaper in Illinois. However, a story can on occasion get chopped a bit or worse case, bumped for additional ad space. That's what happened to me earlier this week. So my efforts won't be totally wasted, here's my report from the SLU vs. Houston game exactly as I submitted it earlier this week.

Thanks,

JM

SLU Rallies On Senior Night

By John Molina

[email protected]

ST. LOUIS - The Saint Louis University Billikens posted their most amazing

victory of the season with a come from behind 72-69 overtime basketball win against the Houston Cougars at the Savvis Center, Friday, Mar. 5.

In a frantic sequence, senior guard Phillip Hunt's tip in basket tied the

game 62-62 as regulation time expired. Trailing 62-60 with 16 seconds to

go, Josh Fischer ran for a layup, but missed the shot. Darren Clarke

grabbed the rebound for SLU, but his shot was blocked by Houston's Anwar

Ferguson. Fischer ran down the ball outside the three-point line and shot a

desparation three. Hunt caught the ball which missed the mark short, then

jumped up and tipped it in as the horn sounded.

"I've never been a part of something like this," said senior forward Chris

Sloan. "I've been in some struggles where it's been tough to score. When

you struggle like that and your two leading guys are out and we battled

back like that. It's something I'll never forget."

This was indeed a special night for the Bills (16-11) for several reasons.

The regular season finale. Senior night honoring Sloan, Hunt, Fischer and

Ross Varner. And considering Tom Frericks was out with a injury and the

team leading scorer Reggie Bryant missed the game for personal family

reasons, it was a huge game for Saint Louis U.

Sloan led all scorers in the game with 21 points. Izik Ohanon 15 points and

six rebounds. Fischer checked in with 15 points, eight rebounds and six

assists for the Bills.

Ferguson led Houston (9-18) with 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked

shots. The seven footer was the only Cougar to score in double figures.

The Bills could muster only 17 first half points falling behind 29-17 after

one half of play. They did not score their first basket until Sloan hit

a three with six minutes gone in the first half.

Asked if the team was trying too hard early - Sloan replied, "I don't think

it was trying too hard. I think it was just an adjustment. Reggie is our

leading scorer, and when you take 18 points out of your offense, it's kind

of hard to figure out the roles. But luckily we played through it and ended

up putting 72 (points) on the board."

SLU was down by 20 with just under 12 minutes to play trailing 43-23. They were down by nine at 60-51 with only 50 seconds left in the contest.

But incredibly the Bills went on an 11-2 run the last 50 seconds with Hunt's

play at the end of regulation tying the game. Fischer connected on four

free throws in the extra session as the Bills outscored the visitors 10-7

in the OT frame.

"It was tough because we just found out the other day that Reggie wasn't

going to be able to play. So, we got used to playing with him and had to

make that adjustment," said Fischer, who logged all 45 minutes of playing

time ."In practice, it seemed like life without Reggie is tough. We had

some open shots in the first half that weren't falling for us. But we just

toughed it out at the end and came up with a win."

"I don't know exactly what to say about tonight's game," said Bills head

coach Brad Soderberg. "I know I kind of overstate it sometimes with the

resiliency of this group of guys. It kind of staggers me sometimes. If we

weren't dead, we were a breath away from death and somehow they rallied."

Talking about the Hunt play Soderberg added, "I'm so happy for Phil.

That is a storybook ending for a kid who has just waited his turn. His

start tonight was not so much a courtesy. Without Reggie, we needed the

best ballhandling crew we could have (on the floor). And I thought Phil did

a tremendous job on the defensive end. It was great to see him get that

putback at the end of the game."

Saint Louis closes out the league portion of their schedule with a 9-7

mark in Conference USA play. The Bills were 12-3 on the home floor of the

Savvis Center for the 2003-04 campaign.

Next up for the Bills is the C-USA tournament taking place in Cincinnati.

SLU comes in as the No. 7 seed in the brackets and will play Southern

Mississippi, Wed, Mar. 10. Results were not available at press time.

The No. 1 seed DePaul plays on Thur. against the winner of Marquette/TCU.

Go to www.conferenceusa.com/sports/mbball/

for the most up to date information.

[Schasz]

JM,

Very nice article, and I really like your quotes from Coach Soderberg and our players after the game. Keep plugging and things will break your way.

[billiken_roy]

great report john! you should post all your billiken reports here. or at least give us a link to your story elsewhere. thanks!