St. Louis, Mo.-Reggie Agbeko scored a career-high-tying 20 points, and Davell Roby and Mike Crawford tallied 15 points apiece as Saint Louis registered a 72-58 victory over SIUE Saturday at Chaifetz Arena.
Agbeko connected on 8-of-11 from the field in his game-high scoring effort. He added nine rebounds.
Roby posted his first career double-double, adding a career- and game-high 11 rebounds to his 15-point output. He also chipped in a career-high-tying four steals as well as four assists.
Crawford’s 5-of-7 shooting performance included 4-of-5 from 3-point range. The four treys equaled his career high.
Elliott Welmer had six blocks, tying for the third-highest total in Billiken history, to go with seven points and five rebounds. Aaron Hines tossed in eight points.
Carlos Anderson, Keenan Simmons and Christian Ellis led SIUE (4-7) with 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, respectively. Burak Eslik and Devin Thornton scored 11 points apiece.
Saint Louis (4-7) got off to a strong start. The Billikens scored on eight of their first 10 possessions, including eight points from Agbeko, to take a 16-8 lead.
A Welmer three-point play and a Roby basket on consecutive possessions gave SLU its first double-digit lead, 21-10.
It was 24-15 Saint Louis when the Billikens embarked on another offensive surge. SLU scored on eight of 11 possessions – including six points apiece from Agbeko and Roby and five from Hines – on its way to a 43-29 halftime cushion. The 43 points are the Bills’ highest first-half total of the season.
Both teams came out of the gate sluggishly to start the second half, but SIUE managed to trim the Saint Louis lead to 43-36.
The Billikens seemed to take command with a 12-2 run that included two of Crawford’s 3-pointers. The second triple concluded the run and put SLU on top 55-38.
SIUE then caught fire, scoring on five straight possessions in a 12-0 spurt that made it a 55-50 game. However, Crawford collected five points and Welmer picked up four in a 9-0 flurry that ended with the Billikens leading 64-50 at the 4:19 mark. The margin remained in double digits the rest of the way.
