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Ellis Propels Billikens Past St. Joseph’s
Courtesy of SLUBillikens.com
PHILADELPHIA – Cody Ellis scored a game-high 20 points, which included five second-half 3-pointers, as the Billikens rolled to a 72-60 victory at Saint Joseph’s Wednesday night at Hagan Arena.
The win was the Billikens’ third in a row and their sixth in the last seven games. They move to 19-5 overall and 7-3 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. SLU remains a half-game back of league-leader Temple (7-2 in the A-10) in the league standings.
Ellis’ career-high-tying 20 points came on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 6-of-9 from 3-point range. Five of his 3-pointers came at a crucial time in the second half when the game was still in doubt.
Brian Conklin pumped in 13 points, while Kwamain Mitchell added 12. Dwayne Evans pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.
The Billikens shot 50 percent (10-20) from 3-point range, their best shooting mark from beyond the arc since the their win against Oklahoma Nov. 27. SLU shot 52 percent from the field and 70 percent from 3-point range in the second half.
Saint Joseph’s, which suffered just its second loss on its home court, dips to 15-10 overall and 5-5 in the league.
The Billikens raced out to a 12-0 lead at the start, but suffered a scoring drought that allowed Saint Joseph’s to crawl back into the game. The game was tied 17-17 with 6:34 to go in the half, and the lead changed hands several times from that point. Conklin, Mitchell and Rob Loe all scored late in the half as the Billikens closed on an 8-2 run to take a 29-27 advantage into halftime.
The second half saw the Billikens jump out to a seven-point lead at 39-32 four minutes into the session, but SJU stormed back once again to tie the score with 12 minutes remaining.
That is the time Ellis took over. He hit a pair of free throws at 10:37 to put SLU ahead by two. With the Bills clinging to a three-point lead at the eight-minute mark, Ellis hit two-straight treys as the Billikens stretched out to a 49-40 advantage.
After a Mitchell triple, Ellis hit another 3-pointer at the 5:23 mark to give the Bills an 11-point cushion with five minutes to play. He hit two more down the stretch to complete a stretch of five consecutive 3s made, and the Hawks never threatened again.
SLU remains in Philadelphia to face La Salle on Saturday. Game time at Gola Arena is slated for 1 p.m. (CT).
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