SLU’s Amari McCottry (4) sets a screen, while teammate Brady Dunlap (11) takes a shot during the Billikens’ game against San Francisco, Saturday night at Chaifetz Arena. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
| NCAA Men’s Basketball | 1 | 2 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco (6-5) | 30 | 45 | 75 |
| SLU (9-1) | 31 | 54 | 85 |
ST. LOUIS, MO — The Saint Louis University men’s basketball team shot a blue-hot 63 percent from the field and a scored season-best 54 points in the second half to earn an 85-75 win over the University of San Francisco, Saturday night at Chaifetz Arena.
Four Billiken players scored in double figures, led sophomore Amari McCottry, who had 18 points, five rebounds, and two steals. Backcourt mate Dion Brown added 14 points and 11 rebounds, including a dramatic stretch late in the game, where he made a layup, a steal, and another layup that helped Saint Louis turn a five-point lead into a nine-point lead in less than 30 seconds.
From that point on, San Francisco never got closer than six points, which allowed SLU to cruise through the final minutes to the win.
“I thought our guys showed really great effort and hustle throughout the game tonight,” SLU head coach Josh Schertz said. “San Francisco’s a really good team and they’re going to be a strong contender in the (West Coast Conference) this season. So we knew going in, we we’re going to have to be strong with the ball, strong with our rebounding, and strong on defense, in order to pull this one out.”
And as it turned out, SLU did just as Schertz said. The Billikens outrebounded the Dons, 44-33. They committed just six turnovers to San Francisco’s 12, and the Billikens held the Dons to 40 percent shooting and forced 10 steals.
“We just tried to be really aggressive on ‘D’ tonight,” Brown said. “We knew they liked to shoot a lot of threes. So we felt like if we just didn’t let them have too many open ones, that we could make it tough on them to score.”
SLU’s Dion Brown (13) scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Billikens’ win over San Francisco, Saturday night. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
Juniors Ishan Sharma and Kellen Thames both came off the bench to add 10 points, five rebounds, and three assists apiece. Senior starters Robbie Avila and Trey Green both added nine points for the Billikens.
“We’ve got good depth and several combinations that work really well together,” Schertz said. “I thought we showed that tonight.”
The victory lifted SLU’s record to 9-1, with the chance to go for win No. 10 on Wednesday, December 17, when the Billikens will host Bethune-Cookman. Tip off at Chaifetz Arena that evening is set for 7 p.m.
That matchup will be the second part of a doubleheader featuring the SLU women’s team, which will host a game against Jacksonville State at 4 p.m.
Both games will stream live on ESPN+.
SAN FRANCISCO 75
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00 | Beasley,Ryan | * | 33 | 6-14 | 3-8 | 6-7 | 1-2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 21 |
| 05 | Riley IV,Tyrone | * | 37 | 6-11 | 1-5 | 4-6 | 1-2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
| 01 | Cook,Mookie | * | 26 | 1-7 | 0-3 | 3-4 | 4-3 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 07 | Masic,Vukasin | * | 23 | 2-4 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| 25 | Diaz Graham,Guillermo | * | 12 | 0-4 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1-4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Smiley,Legend | 19 | 5-11 | 3-9 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13 | |
| 35 | Wang,Junjie | 27 | 2-6 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 1-2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 14 | Abosi,Veniamin | 20 | 3-5 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 10 | Gigiberia,Saba | 3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | – | 200 | 25-62 | 10-36 | 15-21 | 10-23 | 33 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 75 |
SLU 85
| ## | Player | GS | MIN | FG | 3PT | FT | ORB-DRB | REB | PF | A | TO | BLK | STL | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04 | McCottry,Amari | * | 31 | 6-14 | 0-3 | 6-12 | 2-3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 18 |
| 13 | Brown,Dion | * | 25 | 6-8 | 0-2 | 2-3 | 3-8 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 21 | Avila,Robbie | * | 24 | 3-7 | 1-4 | 2-2 | 0-3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 03 | Green,Trey | * | 20 | 3-6 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 0-2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
| 01 | Jones,Quentin | * | 34 | 1-5 | 1-3 | 2-2 | 2-2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 09 | Sharma,Ishan | 24 | 3-6 | 2-5 | 2-2 | 1-4 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| 00 | Thames,Kellen | 19 | 5-9 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | |
| 11 | Dunlap,Brady | 19 | 2-5 | 2-5 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 25 | Otieno,Paul | 4 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| TM | TEAM | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | – | 200 | 30-62 | 7-24 | 18-25 | 13-31 | 44 | 16 | 20 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 85 |
2025-26 SLU BILLIKENS MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
| Date | Time | At | Opponent | Location | TV | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 3, 2025 (Monday) | 7 pm | Home | SEMO | Chaifetz Arena |  | W, 92-67 (1-0) |
| November 6, 2025 (Thursday) | 7 pm | Home | Chicago State | Chaifetz Arena | | W, 108-86 (2-0) |
| November 10, 2025 (Monday) | 7 pm | Home | Lindenwood | Chaifetz Arena |  | W, 109-66 (3-0) |
| November 15, 2025 (Saturday) | 7 pm | Home | Grand Canyon | Chaifetz Arena |  | W, 78-64 (4-0) |
| November 21, 2025 (Friday) | 7 pm | Home | Purdue-Fort Wayne | Chaifetz Arena | | W, 91-60 (5-0) |
| November 27, 2025 (Thursday) | 6 pm | Neutral | Santa Clara | Palm Desert, Calif. |  | W, 71-70 (6-0) |
| November 28, 2025 (Friday) | TBA | Neutral | Minnesota or Stanford | Palm Desert, Calif. |  | L, 78-77 (6-1) |
| December 2, 2025 (Tuesday) | 9 pm | Away | Loyola Marymount | Los Angeles, Calif. | | W, 91-70 (7-1) |
| December 7, 2025 (Sunday) | 2 pm | Home | Central Michigan | Chaifetz Arena | | W, 107-65 (8-1) |
| December 13, 2025 (Saturday) | 7 pm | Home | San Francisco | Chaifetz Arena | | W, 85-75 (9-1) |
| December 17, 2025 (Wednesday) | 7 pm | Home | Bethune-Cookman | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| December 21, 2025 (Sunday) | 2 pm | Home | New Hampshire | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| December 28, 2025 (Sunday) | 2 pm | Home | Principia | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| December 31, 2025 (Wednesday) | 3 pm | Home | Saint Joseph’s | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| January 7, 2026 (Wednesday) | 6 pm | Away | VCU | Richmond, Va. | | |
| January 10, 2026 (Saturday) | 3 pm | Away | La Salle | Philadelphia, Pa. |  | |
| January 14, 2026 (Wednesday) | 7 pm | Home | Fordham | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| January 17, 2026 (Saturday) | 3 pm | Home | Richmond | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| January 20, 2026 (Tuesday) | 6 pm | Away | Duquesne | Pittsburgh, Pa. | | |
| January 23, 2026 (Friday) | 4:30 pm | Away | St. Bonaventure | St. Bonaventure, N.Y. |  | |
| January 27, 2026 (Tuesday) | 7 pm | Home | George Washington | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| January 30, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Home | Dayton | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| February 3, 2026 (Tuesday) | 8 pm | Away | Davidson | Davidson, N.C. | | |
| February 7, 2026 (Saturday) | 2 pm | Home | La Salle | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| February 13, 2026 (Friday) | 7:30 pm | Away | Loyola Chicago | Chicago, Ill. | | |
| February 17, 2026 (Tuesday) | 6 pm | Away | Rhode Island | Kingston, R.I. | | |
| February 20, 2026 (Friday) | 6 pm | Home | VCU | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| February 24, 2026 (Tuesday) | 6 pm | Away | Dayton | Dayton, Ohio | | |
| February 28, 2026 (Saturday) | 7 pm | Home | Duquesne | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| March 4, 2026 (Wednesday) | 7 pm | Home | Loyola Chicago | Chaifetz Arena | | |
| March 7, 2026 (Saturday) | 3 pm | Away | George Mason | Fairfax, Va. | | |
| March 11-15, 2026 | TBD | Neutral | TBD | Pittsburgh, Pa. |