Junior forward Sincere Parker scored 22 points to lead SLU to a 79-69 win over Wyoming at the Myrtle Invitational, Thursday afternoon. (Photo: Primo Greenway)
| NCAA Men’s Basketball | 1 | 2 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Louis University (4-0) | 34 | 45 | 79 |
| Wyoming (2-1) | 35 | 34 | 69 |
Cedric Williams
Staff Writer
CONWAY, SC –Playing their first game away from Chaifetz Arena on Thursday, the Saint Louis University men’s basketball team looked at home as can be, as it rallied past and pulled away from the University of Wyoming for a 79-69 win, in a first round game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
Wyoming (2-1) led for most of the first half and by a point at halftime, but Saint Louis (4-0) shot a blistering 57.7 percent in the second half and scored 45 points to earn its fourth straight win to begin the new season.
“Good win for our basketball team,” SLU head coach Travis Ford said. “Really good win this time of year against an extremely talented offensive team, a very physical team as you saw. We had to win this game in a different way than we have been and sometimes you just got to find out different ways.
“I thought the first half we didn’t play our style of basketball, kind of got away from it for whatever reason. It was tough to get in a rhythm for us because they kept scoring on us in the first half. We made a few adjustments at halftime and got back to playing the way we want to play and I loved our scrappiness. I really, really loved how gritty and scrappy we were.”
SLU really faced its first test of the season on Thursday, as their leading scorer for the season (Gibson Jimerson) was being smothered by the Wyoming defense, the Billikens’ own top defender (Tim Dalger) was in foul trouble, and the team’s top scorer for the day (Sincere Parker) had to leave the game with an ankle injury.
But the Billikens found a way, as other players stepped up and the team played swarming defense of its own — forcing 15 steals against what had been a high-powered Cowboy offense.
“That’s what you need to have to succeed when you’re a team that’s still trying to figure itself out,” Ford said. “We’re obviously not a complete package by no stretch of the imagination right now, shouldn’t be with all the new players, but just got to figure out different ways to win sometimes.”
Parker led Saint Louis with a career-high 22 points and a team-high eight rebounds. The junior from Rockford, Ill., made nine-of-18 shots and carried the Billiken offense, when the Wyoming defense refused to let the preseason all-conference selection Jimerson get a shot.
Jimerson finished with only one shot taken and no points scored in the game, but the Billikens managed to find other ways.
“I wasn’t happy at halftime, as you can imagine,” Ford said. “It wasn’t about the score, it was about how we were playing. It just wasn’t what we want to take pride in, the approach wasn’t there.
“To be able to take them from 47% to 25%, 26%, and hold them to 1-for-11 from three and have 15 steals, that’s the reason for success. Obviously, we made a bunch of shots in the second half, shooting 58% and 71% from the three, that helps. But good things happen when your back is against the wall and you just kind of lose yourself in the game and not worry about anything else.”
Dalger scored a season-high 17 points and nailed a pair of big 3-pointers, after Parker went out. Kellen Thames got additional playing time with Parker out as well, and hit all four of his shots from the field en route to nine points.
Freshman Cian Medley scored seven points, dished out three assists and posted four steals. He did not commit a turnover in 17 minutes of action.
Wyoming led 35-34 at the half, but behind Parker, SLU came out hot in the second half. He scored seven straight points to get the Billikens the lead, which they managed to push to as many as 12 points before eventually winning by 10.
“It’s just a testament to our experience,” Dalger said. “This is a very experienced group. Sincere had an amazing game, he shot well from the field, he did what he did today. We’re a very experienced group so we just had to keep everybody together, keeping everybody locked in. It’s great to have adversity like this, it’s good for the team, but thank God we won. We’ll take that and it’s going to help us down the line.”
SLU will now play in the semifinals of the Myrtle Beach Invitational, which will be played on Friday at Coastal Carolina’s HTC Center. The Billikens will play Vermont, which defeated Charleston on Thursday, 73-64.
The winner of that matchup will play in the championship game on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. That game will be televised live on ESPN2.
Friday’s SLU-Vermont contest will tip off at 11 a.m. and will also be broadcast on ESPN2.
Saint Louis University 79
| # | Player | PTS | FG | 3FG | FT | OR | DR | REB | A | PF | TO | BL | ST | MIN | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2* | HUGHES II, LARRY | 8 | 2-8 | 1-4 | 3-5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 10 |
| 5* | DALGER, TIM | 17 | 5-7 | 2-3 | 5-6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 25 | 18 |
| 21* | PARKER, SINCERE | 22 | 9-18 | 3-5 | 1-2 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 5 |
| 22* | HARGROVE JR., TERRENCE | 9 | 3-7 | 0-3 | 3-4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 12 |
| 24* | JIMERSON, GIBSON | 0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 11 |
| 0 | THAMES, KELLEN | 9 | 4-4 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 15 | -8 |
| 1 | MEDLEY, CIAN | 7 | 2-6 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 17 | -1 |
| 7 | MEADOWS, MIKE | 5 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 5 |
| 12 | ZHANG, BRUCE | 2 | 1-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 9 | -2 |
| TM | TEAM | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | ||||||
| TOTALS | 79 | 27-57 | 8-20 | 17-22 | 8 | 25 | 33 | 11 | 18 | 15 | 5 | 13 | |||
Wyoming 69
| # | Player | PTS | FG | 3FG | FT | OR | DR | REB | A | PF | TO | BL | ST | MIN | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1* | WENZEL, BRENDAN | 6 | 0-7 | 0-4 | 6-6 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 37 | -8 |
| 3* | GRIFFIN, SAM | 15 | 7-20 | 1-6 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 33 | -11 |
| 5* | MANYAWU, CAM | 15 | 6-10 | 0-1 | 3-4 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 29 | -8 |
| 13* | KOT, AKUEL | 10 | 4-18 | 2-9 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 32 | -9 |
| 44* | POWELL, CADEN | 17 | 5-8 | 0-0 | 7-7 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 27 | -2 |
| 2 | NEWTON, KOBE | 0 | 0-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | -1 |
| 15 | KOJENETS, OLEG | 6 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 13 | -8 |
| 24 | THEODOSIOU, JAC | 0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -3 |
| TM | TEAM | – | – | – | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| TOTALS | 69 | 25-71 | 3-21 | 16-17 | 22 | 24 | 46 | 10 | 20 | 19 | 2 | 5 | |||
2023-24 SLU Billikens Men’s Basketball Schedule
| Date | Gametime | At | Opponent | Location | TV | Radio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 17, 2023 (Friday) | 1:30 pm | Neutral | Vermont | Conway, S.C. (HTC Center) | ESPN Networks | KMOX 1120AM |
| November 19, 2023 (Sunday) | Time TBA | Neutral | TBA | Conway, S.C. (HTC Center) | ESPN Networks | KMOX 1120AM |
| November 25, 2023 (Saturday) | 7 pm | Home | Dartmouth | Chaifetz Arena | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| November 28, 2023 (Tuesday) | 7 pm | Home | Utah State | Chaifetz Arena | BSMW EXTRA & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| December 2, 2023 (Saturday) | 2:30 pm | Away | Southern Illinois | Carbondale, Ill. (Banterra Center) | KMOX 1120AM | |
| December 6, 2023 (Wednesday) | 7 pm | Away | Drake | Des Moines, Iowa (Knapp Center) | KMOX 1120AM | |
| December 9, 2023 (Saturday) | 2 pm | Home | Hofstra | Chaifetz Arena | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| December 16, 2023 (Saturday) | 7 pm | Home | Louisiana Tech | Chaifetz Arena | BSMW EXTRA & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| December 20, 2023 (Wednesday) | 6 pm | Away | NC State | Raleigh, N.C. (PNC Arena) | KMOX 1120AM | |
| January 3, 2024 (Wednesday) | 6 pm | Home | Loyola Chicago | Chaifetz Arena | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| January 6, 2024 (Saturday) | 1 pm | Away | George Mason | Fairfax, Va. (EagleBank Arena) | USA Network | KMOX 1120AM |
| January 10, 2024 (Wednesday) | 6 pm | Home | Saint Joseph’s | Chaifetz Arena | CBSSN | KMOX 1120AM |
| January 16, 2024 (Tuesday) | 7 pm | Away | Dayton | Dayton, Ohio (UD Arena) | CBSSN | KMOX 1120AM |
| January 19, 2024 (Friday) | 6 pm | Away | VCU | Richmond, Va. (Siegel Center) | ESPN2 | KMOX 1120AM |
| January 24, 2024 (Wednesday) | 6 pm | Home | Davidson | Chaifetz Arena | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| January 27, 2024 (Saturday) | 7 pm | Home | Massachusetts | Chaifetz Arena | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| January 30, 2024 (Tuesday) | 7 pm | Away | Loyola Chicago | Chicago, Ill. (Gentile Arena) | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| February 3, 2024 (Saturday) | 1:30 pm | Home | Fordham | Chaifetz Arena | USA Network | KMOX 1120AM |
| February 7, 2024 (Wednesday) | 5:30 pm | Away | La Salle | Philadelphia, Pa. (Gola Arena) | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| February 10, 2024 (Saturday) | 11:30 am | Away | Saint Joseph’s | Philadelphia, Pa. (Hagan Arena) | USA Network | KMOX 1120AM |
| February 16, 2024 (Friday) | 6 pm | Home | VCU | Chaifetz Arena | ESPN2 | KMOX 1120AM |
| February 20, 2024 (Tuesday) | 6 pm | Away | Duquesne | Pittsburgh, Pa. (UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse) | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| February 24, 2024 (Saturday) | 2 pm | Home | George Washington | Chaifetz Arena | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| February 28, 2024 (Wednesday) | 7 pm | Home | Richmond | Chaifetz Arena | BSMW & ESPN+ | KMOX 1120AM |
| March 2, 2024 (Saturday) | 3 pm | Away | Rhode Island | Kingston, R.I. (Ryan Center) | CBSSN | KMOX 1120AM |
| March 5, 2024 (Tuesday) | 8 pm | Home | Dayton | Chaifetz Arena | CBSSN | KMOX 1120AM |
| March 9, 2024 (Saturday) | 11:30 am | Away | St. Bonaventure | St. Bonaventure, N.Y. (Reilly Center) | USA Network | KMOX 1120AM |
| March 12-17 Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament | TBA | Neutral | TBA | Brooklyn, N.Y. (Barclay’s Center) |