Saint Louis turned a sloppy, two point halftime deficit into a second half offensive clinic as the Billikens steamrolled St. Bonaventure 86-62 on Wednesday night at Chaifetz Arena.
Kwamain Mitchell scored 22 points to lead all scorers as the Billikens remained calm, cool and collected in a game dictated early by the officials.
"We played really hard, especially the second half," Billikens coach Rick Majerus said. "St. Bonaventure is a really good team. That was just a funky game.
"There were a lot of fouls called. You just had to deal with it. We had some foolish fouls, they had some foolish fouls. I was proud of our guys for keeping their composer."
The Bonnies failed to keep their composure in the second half, with Andrew Nicholson and Da'Quan Cook each picking up technical fouls and essentially taking themselves, and the Bonnies out of the game.
"You have to adjust to it (fouls). You can't sit there and complain and whine," Majerus said. "There are going to be bad calls.
"They (St. Bonaventure) did try and talk some trash. Our guys just said 'keep talkin and look at the scoreboard' and I was proud of our guys for that."
St. Bonaventure got as close as three with 11:54 to play in the second half with the score 54-51, but Saint Louis utilized a 21-2 run to put the game out of reach.
"We got steals and transition baskets," Majerus noted. "Statistically we had six steals on the game, but you'd think there were significantly more than that.
"What we did was capitalize on steals and long rebounds and got some scoring out those things or got fouled and hit our foul shots."
Saint Louis finished the game 26-31 from the line, including 14-16 in the second half.
The 86 points was a season high for the Billikens, who improve to 17-5 overall and 5-3 in the Atlantic 10. St. Bonaventure entered the game in first place in the conference, falls to 12-8, 5-3 in league play.
Senior forward Brian Conklin finished with 19 points, needing only four points entering the game to get to 1,000 for his career.
"Brian is a tribute to what you can do if you stay resolute, determined and keep working at it," Majerus said. "He has gotten better every year he has been here. He has a great passion for the game and is a great competitor."
Dwayne Evans dumped in 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, while Mike McCall contributed 15 points in his first start of the season for Saint Louis.
Demetrius Conger led the way for the Bonnies with 13 points and Da'Quan Cook finished with 12.
The game was played with a heavy heart for Saint Louis University, after it was announced early Wednesday morning that former Billiken head coach Charlie Spoonhour had passed away at the age of 72 after a long battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a scarring of the lungs.
Saint Louis paused for a moment of silence prior to the national anthem while members of the student section held up spoons in honor of the late great coach.
"He was a great guy. His legacy will be his children and family," Majerus said. He has wonderful sons and a wonderful wife. He loved SLU and was very respectful of the situation he was in.
"He was a genuine guy, a great teacher of the game and fantastic competitor.
"He had a great life. We should all cash in at the end with that kind of life. We celebrate his life well lived and his legacy. That is the most important part of today.
"I am honored to be at a place where he coached. I know he did a great job here."
Saint Louis returns to action on Saturday against Dayton at Chaifetz Arena.
