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CBI Quarterfinals Recap - Saint Louis vs Wisconsin-Green Bay St. Louis 68, Wisconsin-Green Bay 62 (2OT)
The host St. Louis Billikens (22-11) overcame an 11-point second half deficit to force overtime and outlast the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix (22-13) in two overtimes, 68-62. Saint Louis sophomore forward Willie Reed delivered a dunk with 1:55 remaining in the second overtime to break a 60-60 tie, while freshman Christian Salecich put the finishing touches on the Billikens' win, outscoring the Phoenix 6-2 in the final minute of the game. Reed paced SLU in scoring with 21 points, and fellow sophomore Kwamain Mitchell and freshman Cody Ellis each chipped in 14 points. Senior Troy Cotton had 17 points to lead the Phoenix, but he struggled from the field, making only 6-of-15 shots from the field.
The Big Picture: St. Louis is a team that plays a style of basketball better suited for the steel cage and squared circle than it is the hardwood. The Billikens are going to play 40 minutes of grinding, in-your-grill defense regardless of the opponent and regardless of the stakes. Despite the late game heroics of the emerging star Reed, this was a game the Billikens won on the business end of the court. St. Louis held Green Bay to 35.9 % shooting from the field for the game. Rick Majerus's side contested every jumper, forcing the Phoenix's high-scoring backcourt trio of Cotton, Rahmon Fletcher, and Bryquis Perine into a miserable 13-of-36 shooting night. Hold the opposing teams top scorers to 36 % shooting in March and you are going to win games.
The Good: Willie Reed has some stones for a youngster. The kid fought through some pain – it may have been a cramp – in both overtimes to score key buckets and grab critical rebounds for the Billikens down the stretch. Not only did Reed lead St. Louis with 21 points, but he was also the only player on his team to continually make shots, going 8-of-11 from the field. Conversely, Billikens not named Willie Reed shot only 38.7 % from the floor. Reed also led St. Louis with 10 rebounds.
The Bad: We don't know if they were called plays or not, but the inability of the Billikens to get the rock to Reed, and the Phoenix to get it to forward Rian Pearson (14 points on 7-of-9 shooting) in crunch time of either overtime, is puzzling. Both teams missed three-pointers in the final minute of the first OT with neither Reed nor Pearson getting the ball in position to take shots. Pearson's putback slam off Perine’s misfire was the shot that got the Phoenix into OT after SLU’s late surge. Pearson also hit the jumper in the first OT that tied the game at 56-56, sending the game into OT number two.
The Ugly: Even though both teams are defensively-oriented, the shooting in this game was kids-cover-your-eyes ghastly. Making it worse was that both the Billikens and Phoenix had guards who kept on jacking up the jumpers even though they were doing little more than denting iron. The Billikens were 4-of-19 from three-point range, which includes going 2-of-11 beyond the arc in the second half and the overtimes. Meanwhile the Phoenix were busy bricking away to the tune of 13-of-42 from the field in the second half and overtimes. At times, it seemed as though one had a better chance of seeing Rick Majerus dunk than of seeing the Billikens or Phoenix make a jumper.
What's Next? St. Louis plays host to Princeton in Wednesday night's second CBI semifinal. The Billikens will be favored to advance to the best-of-three CBI championship series, but Princeton is likely to stroke the rock much better than the Phoenix did on Tuesday. Packing the Chaifetz Arena, where the Billikens are 17-3 this season, might very well end up being the decisive factor in that game.
By: Tim Coyne |