ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (AP) -- Dwayne Evans scored a game-high 18 points and Cody Ellis chipped in 10 as Saint Louis led wire-to-wire in a 67-57 victory over St. Bonaventure Saturday in Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball action at the Reilly Center.
It was the second road win in a row for Saint Louis, which improves to 14-5 overall and 3-2 in the A-10. St. Bonaventure, which was coming off road wins at Temple and Saint Joseph's, dips to 9-10 and 2-4 in the league.
The Billikens used a strong defensive effort to knock off the Bonnies. SBU shot just 2-of-16 from 3-point range, and the Billikens forced the St. Bona into 19 turnovers. SLU registered three steals in a 30 second span late in the contest to help put the game out of reach.
On the offensive end, the Billikens shot 44.2 percent from the floor. Evans, who also collected eight rebounds, was 7-of-11 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the line. Grandy Glaze, Mike McCall Jr. and Jordair Jett all had nine points. Jake Barnett pulled down five rebounds.
Playing in front of a capacity crowd on St. Bonaventure's Homecoming, the Billikens went up 7-0 early thanks to an Evans dunk, Evans trey and Rob Loe jumper. SLU pushed its advantage to double digits at the 9:12 mark on a Jett 3-pointer, giving the Billikens a 19-7 lead.
A late first-half trey by McCall Jr. gave the Bills a 17-point advantage, their largest of the game, and SLU led 38-23 at the break.
St. Bona came out firing in the second half, going on an 8-2 run to pull within nine at 40-31 with 16:39 left. Later, the Bonnies had a 6-2 spurt going, but Glaze registered a steal off his own miss, and converted the putback to keep SLU up by nine with 8:44 to go.
The Bonnies tried chipping away at their deficit, but SLU always had an answer. SBU was within seven late, but thanks to a stingy defense the Bonnies couldn't get any closer. Ellis made back-to-back steals that ended up as buckets for the Bills on the other end. Then Evans had a steal, was fouled, and made both free throws to keep SLU lead in double digits.
The Billikens return to action Thursday, Jan. 31, when they host Butler at Chaifetz Arena. Game time is scheduled for 8 p.m., and the game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network. The game serves as the annual "Billiken Blizzard," where all fans will receive a free white T-shirt.
