SLU’s Bradley Ezewiro defends against Duquesne’s David Dixon during Wednesday’s Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament game at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn. (Photo courtesy: Atlantic 10 Conference)
| NCAA Men’s Basketball | 1 | 2 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLU (13-20) | 39 | 34 | 73 |
| Duquesne (21-11) | 43 | 40 | 83 |
Cedric Williams
Senior Editor
BROOKLYN, NY — The Saint Louis University men’s basketball team saw its 2023-24 season come to an end on Wednesday, when it lost in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament second round, 83-73, to Duquesne.
Saint Louis finished its season with a 13-20 record, while Duquesne improved to 21-11 and will advance to the tournament quarterfinals, where it will play Dayton.
SLU’s only lead came early in the first minute of the game, when it led 1-0. Duquesne responded with a 12-1 run to take the lead and never looked back.
The Billikens were behind by as many as 16 points early in the second half, but managed to cut the deficit to just four points midway through. Unfortunately, that was as close as Saint Louis would get, as Duquesne would make a series of free throws to push its lead back to 10, while also stymieing SLU’s offense to keep it from coming back further.
Gibson Jimerson led all scorers with 22 points and freshman Cian Medley added a career high 15 points and five assists. Sophomore Larry Hughes scored 11 points and Terrence Hargrove, Jr. added 10 points and six rebounds in his final game as a Billiken.
After the game, the SLU athletic department announced it had fired head coach Travis Ford. In eight seasons, Ford had a record of 146-109 and won the A-10 Tournament championship in 2019.
“For eight years, Travis led our men’s basketball program with passion and dignity,” SLU Director of Athletics Chris May said. “This decision was not made lightly.”
“It is our expectation to regularly compete for conference championships and play in the NCAA Tournament,” May said. “Unfortunately, we have not met these expectations the last several years. We thank Travis for his dedication to SLU and wish him the best in the future.”
Saint Louis University 73
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Jimerson, Gibson | * | 39 | 7-18 | 1-8 | 7-8 | 1-3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
| 01 | Medley, Cian | * | 35 | 6-11 | 2-2 | 1-3 | 0-3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 15 |
| 02 | Hughes II, Larry | * | 33 | 3-7 | 2-6 | 3-4 | 1-2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 22 | Hargrove Jr., Terrence | * | 30 | 3-3 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 0-6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| 03 | Ezewiro, Bradley | * | 15 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 6-8 | 1-3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 00 | Thames, Kellen | 27 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 4-4 | 0-3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |
| 15 | van Bussel, Stef | 17 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 12 | Zhang, Bruce | 4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | – | 200 | 21-45 | 8-20 | 23-30 | 6-27 | 33 | 18 | 10 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 73 |
Duquesne 83
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Clark III,Jimmy | * | 31 | 6-13 | 4-7 | 4-6 | 0-4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 20 |
| 03 | Grant,Dae Dae | * | 35 | 6-14 | 2-6 | 3-4 | 0-4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
| 00 | Mahorcic,Dusan | * | 11 | 4-4 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 44 | DiMichele,Jake | * | 32 | 2-6 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 0-2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| 04 | Williams,Tre | * | 14 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0-2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 02 | Dixon,David | 25 | 5-8 | 0-1 | 3-4 | 1-5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | |
| 14 | Hronsky,Matus | 9 | 3-3 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 34 | Drame,Fousseyni | 26 | 2-5 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 4-1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| 32 | Rozier,Kareem | 12 | 1-4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 07 | Necas,Jakub | 3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 05 | Barre,Halil | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | – | 200 | 31-61 | 10-22 | 11-20 | 7-23 | 30 | 22 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 83 |