PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Saint Louis junior guard Davell Roby’s tip-in with 1.6 seconds remaining gave the Billikens a thrilling 72-71 win over Duquesne Wednesday in a first round game of the Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Basketball Championship.
The Billikens, the 11th seed, advance to tomorrow’s second round matchup against sixth-seeded George Washington. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. (CT), and the game will be televised on NBCSN.
Saint Louis (12-20) trailed by as much as 18 points in the second half and was down by five with 24 seconds remaining before rallying for the win.
Duquesne (10-22), up by one with 10 seconds left, missed a pair of free throws to set up the final possession. Mike Crawford brought the ball down the court but was stripped. Jalen Johnson put up a desperation attempt that was off the mark, but Roby was there to tip it in to give the Billikens their first lead of the game. Duquesne got a desperation shot off at the buzzer but missed iron, and SLU escaped with the win.
Redshirt freshman forward Elliott Welmer tallied 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots. Crawford added 16 points for the Billikens, while Reggie Agbeko contributed 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
SLU also trailed by 16 on several occasions in the first half, but rallied to make it a 10-point game at halftime, 42-32.
The Billikens got their deficit down to five early in the second half before Duquesne responded with a 13-0 run to go on top by 18, 55-37, with 15:20 remaining. SLU slowly chipped away at the margin, and midway through the second half the Bills were only down by double digits.
It was a one possession game for most of the action with less 10 minutes to play.
Crawford hit a pair of big buckets in the final seconds to erase a five-point Duquesne lead with less than 30 seconds remaining. The SLU defense forced a turnover with 15 seconds remaining to set up one of Crawford’s baskets.
Roby’s last second tip-in gave the Billikens their first lead, and they led for just 1.6 seconds in the game.
