Saint Louis trailed by eight points with 4 minutes, 17 seconds remaining but the Billikens rallied and Lisch made five free throws in the final minute to secure a 56-51 victory over Southern Illinois on Saturday night at Scottrade Center.
“It definitely feels good,” said Lisch, a junior guard who scored eight of his team-high 20 points in the last few minutes. “We didn't panic down the stretch, we just kept playing our game and it worked out today.”
Saint Louis (7-5) could not complete second half comeback attempts against Missouri State and Sam Houston State. Against Sam Houston State a week earlier, the Billikens cut a 17-point deficit to three before losing 61-53.
That loss snapped the team’s 11-game home win streak. Now, with two more home games before the calendar turns to 2008 and the start of Atlantic 10 Conference play, SLU Billikens will look to start a new streak.
The Billikens have now won three consecutive games at home against Southern Illinois (4-4), annually one of the top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Salukis were coming off a victory over No. 24 Saint Mary’s on Tuesday.
“I thought it was a hard played game,” SLU coach Rick Majerus said. “I’m really happy for the guys, exam week and all. Southern Illinois is a good team; they are going to be good.”
The Salukis led by nine points in the second half following a 16-3 run and then led by eight, 51-43, with 4:17 left after a 3-pointer by Matt Shaw (21 points).
From that point, the Billikens were able to close out the game with a 13-0 run. Lisch scored eight of those points, including making five of six free throw attempts, and senior forward Luke Meyer added a clutch 3-pointer.
SLU’s defense limited Southern Illinois to three points in the final eight minutes.
“The best thing we did is try to sustain the defensive effort,” Majerus said. “In conjunction with that, I thought we moved the ball fairly well. We hit some tough shots. We put Lisch in position to make some of the plays, then Lisch made some plays.”
After four tough shooting games, Saint Louis connected on 68.8 percent of its shot attempts in the second half (11 of 16) and made 51.4 percent (19 of 37) on the night.
Tommie Liddell III finished with 16 points on five-of-seven shooting. Senior center Bryce Husak added nine points in 29 minutes. Meyer finished with five points, while senior guard Danny Brown added four points off the bench.
The Billikens return to action on Wednesday night against Loyola Chicago at 7 p.m. at Scottrade Center.