No. 14 seed Saint Louis won its Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Basketball Championship opener with a 74-71 triumph over No. 11 seed Rhode Island Tuesday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The Bills (13-19) advance to take on No. 6 seed Duquesne on Wednesday in the second round at approximately 6:30 p.m. (CT). SLU, which closed the regular season with a win at St. Bonaventure, has won consecutive games for the first time since December. The Billikens are winners of four of their six games.
Jimerson sparked the offense early and often, connecting on two early treys to set the tone. His 26 points are tied for the most by a Billiken in A-10 Championship history (Davell Roby, 26 vs. Davidson in the quarterfinals of the 2018 A-10 Championship). Jimerson also dished out five assists and clinched the game with clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch.
Terrence Hargrove Jr. scored 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He hit back-to-back treys to close the first half and helped send the Billikens into the locker room with a nine-point advantage.
Bradley Ezewiro finished with a double-double of 10 points (5-of-7 shooting) and 11 rebounds. He also dished out four assists and recorded a steal.
Cian Medley had seven points and nine assists. Kellen Thames finished with six points, while Stef van Bussel was productive on both ends of the court and finished with five points and six rebounds.
SLU’s lead was up to 12 points midway through the first half, but Rhode Island hung around. The Rams came out hot in the second half and mounted a 13-0 run to snag the lead. The Rams led by five, 64-59, with 5:47 before the Billikens rallied.
A Medley drive with under three minutes to go tied the game at 67-all. Hargrove hit a pair of free throws, and Jimerson scored to stretch the Bills’ run to 8-0 and they hung on to post the victory.
Wednesday’s game against Duquesne will be televised on USA Network and will be carried live on KMOX 1120 AM.
