Senior guard Aaron Hines led Saint Louis with 18 points as the Billikens rolled to a 62-46 season-opening victory against Seattle Friday night at Chaifetz Arena.
The Billikens (1-0) also got a 17-point effort from junior guard Javon Bess, and he finished with eight rebounds. Freshman guard Jordan Goodwin overcame a tough shooting night (0-for-12 front the field) by registering team highs in rebounds (10), steals (four), assists (four) and blocks (two). He was 6-of-10 from the charity stripe to account for six points.
SLU limited Seattle (0-1) to just 35.4 percent shooting from the field. The Redhawks’ 46 points are the fewest scored by a Billikens opponent since Chicago State scored 43 points in December of last last year.
After Seattle scored the first bucket of the game, the Billikens went on a 9-0 run to take the early lead. A 13-2 SLU spurt later in the half helped Saint Louis take a seven-point lead (34-27) into halftime.
The SLU defense held the Redhawks to 28 percent in the second half, and Seattle wouldn’t threaten the rest of the way as SLU held a comfortable lead throughout much of the second session.
Saint Louis returns to action Monday night when it faces Rockhurst in a 7:30 p.m. tip. It is the second game of a double header with the women’s team, which opens the home portion of its schedule Monday at 5 p.m. against Loyola Marymount.
