Saint Louis 64, Saint Joseph's 55

2/28/2008 8:37 PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -Tommie Liddell scored 21 points, Kevin Lisch added 17 and Saint Louis hung on for 64-55 victory over Saint Joseph's on Thursday night.

The loss drops Hawks (17-9, 8-5 Atlantic 10) into a four-way tie for second place in the conference with La Salle, Temple and Richmond.

Saint Louis (16-12, 7-7), which entered the game allowing a conference-low 60.6 points per game, held St. Joe's to 38.6 percent shooting from the field and the Hawks' lowest point total of the season.

Although the Billikens shot 39.2 percent, they dominated the boards, outrebounding the Hawks 41-28.

St. Joe's leading scorer, Pat Calathes was held to six points on 3-for-16 shooting, including 0-for-6 from 3-point range. He entered the game averaging 18.5 points and hitting 44 percent of his 3-point attempts.

Luke Meyer added seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Billikens.

Saint Louis took at 31-29 halftime on the play of Liddell and Lisch, who each hit a pair of 3-pointers and had 12 points. The Billikens, who led by as many as seven in the first half, shot just 37 percent but were 5-for-14 from long distance. St. Joe's was 1-for-4.

Saint Louis scored the first six points of the second half while the Hawks misfired on their first seven attempts.

Billikens 7-foot center Bryce Husak blocked a pair of shots on one possession. After a scramble for the ball, Saint Louis guard Danny Brown came up with the ball and dunked over Robert Ferguson. Shortly after, Liddell hit a 3, and Husak was left alone underneath for a layup to cap a 12-4 run that gave the Billikens a 51-39 lead with nine minutes left.

Saint Louis then lost its scoring touch. Consecutive 3-pointers by Darrin Govens and Tasheed Carr fueled a 12-3 run by the Hawks that cut the deficit to 54-51 with 3:20 left.

However, Lisch hit a 3-pointer from the corner that made it 59-53 with 1:20 left.

Notes: St. Joseph's key reserve guard D.J. Rivera was not with the team due to a family emergency. Rivera has missed the Hawks' first 13 games for academic reasons.