The 18th-ranked Saint Louis Billikens staged an impressive comeback Friday evening, overcoming a substantial early deficit to defeat visiting VCU 88-75 and maintain their position at the top of the Atlantic 10 conference.
Kellen Thames powered the rally with 16 points and five steals, helping the Billikens (25-1, 13-1 A-10) erase a 14-point first-half disadvantage. Saint Louis dominated the second half, outpacing the Rams (21-7, 12-3) by a commanding 55-33 margin to halt VCU’s impressive 10-game victory run.
The turning point came during a decisive 21-2 scoring run, sparked by Thames contributing seven consecutive points that transformed an eight-point deficit into an 11-point advantage for the home team.
Three other Billikens players reached double figures in scoring: Amari McCottry, Ishan Sharma, and Robbie Avila each contributed 13 points, while Quintin Jones added 11. The victory helped Saint Louis recover from their initial conference defeat earlier this week against Rhode Island.
VCU’s offense was paced by Lazar Djokovic with 19 points and Brandon Jennings, who added 18 points in the losing effort.
In other ranked team action, seventh-ranked Purdue dominated Indiana 93-64 at home in West Lafayette. Trey Kaufman-Renn led the Boilermakers with 20 points, supported by Fletcher Loyer and Omer Mayer who each scored 18.
The Boilermakers controlled the game from start to finish, building leads as large as 34 points while shooting an exceptional 64.7% from the field. Purdue also dominated the rebounding battle 30-15 over the Hoosiers. Braden Smith contributed 15 points and eight assists, while Kaufman-Renn added six rebounds and five assists to even their season series with their in-state rivals.
Indiana was led by Lamar Wilkerson’s 20 points, with Tayton Conerway (12), Tucker DeVries (11) and Reed Bailey (10) also reaching double digits.
Meanwhile, 22nd-ranked Miami of Ohio preserved their perfect season record with a 91-77 victory over Bowling Green in Oxford, Ohio. Luke Skaljac paced the RedHawks with 24 points while Eian Elmer contributed 21.
The duo’s three-point shooting proved crucial, as Skaljac connected on 5 of 10 attempts from beyond the arc while Elmer made 5 of 8, helping Miami hit 13 three-pointers on 30 attempts. Peter Suder managed 10 points and five rebounds despite foul difficulties, and Antwone Woolfolk added 10 points and eight rebounds as the RedHawks moved within four victories of completing an undefeated regular season.
Bowling Green (16-12, 7-8) received a strong performance from Javontae Campbell, who recorded 24 points, six rebounds and six assists before fouling out. Mayar Wol scored 15 points and Josiah Shackelford added 12, with both players making three three-pointers each.
