Men’s basketball (13-8, 4-4 Atlantic 10) slipped to first-placed Saint Louis (20-1, 8-0 A-10), with a score of 79-76, losing to a 3-point dagger on Tuesday night.
Despite holding a 10-point lead at half, the Revolutionaries fell just short, losing to Saint Louis senior center Robbie Avila’s 3-point shot in the final play of the game. Redshirt sophomore guard Christian Jones and graduate forward Tyrone Marshall Jr. both led the Revs’ scoring with 15 points apiece, while redshirt senior Rafael Castro collected 18 rebounds — his high for the season.
Jones set the tone early for the game, securing the first of the Revs’ four blocks in the first half in the second minute. Castro then followed 15 seconds later with a block of his own, before dishing the ball quickly in transition for a three from junior guard Trey Autry.
Another three from Jones and a Castro layup gave the Revs a 10-2 lead in the first four minutes, a promising start against the A-10 division leaders.
From the start, the Revs prioritized quick transitions, showing hustle and energy after every rebound and forced turnover, then swarming down to the other end for easy looks. In the first half, the Revs scored 9 fast-break points.
When the Revs were forced to slow down, their offense centered on finding Castro in the post and clearing the floor for him to make a play underneath the rim or to attract another defender for a double team to then find Autry or another shooter for 3-point looks.
With just under six minutes in the first half, the Revs began what would become a 13-3 run, with graduate guard Tre Dinkins and junior guard Bubu Benjamin both netting tough layups and two Autry 3-point jumpers, leaving the score 41-26, the Revs’ largest lead of the game.
Autry’s 3-point shooting, going 4-6, masked the Revs’ difficulties from a range they have come to rely on throughout the season as the rest of the team was 2-11.
The first half also displayed struggles from the free-throw line. The team’s free-throw percentage was notably beneath the conference average as Castro went 0-3 from the line with the entire team going 5-11 in the half.
Despite these deficiencies, the Revs held a 10-point lead at halftime, 43-33, and had a chance to end the Billikens’ undefeated conference streak.
The second half started relatively even for the first eight minutes with both teams playing aggressive defense with nine fouls between them.
But redshirt sophomore guard Trey Green’s hot 3-point shooting helped St. Louis began closing the gap, making both of his attempts in the opening eight minutes of the half his second, leaving the score 59-53.
On the other end, Marshall pushed aggressive drives at the rim often finishing through contact with his right hand with both plays resulting in 3-point opportunities.
The physical play from both sides pushed the teams into the bonus early, with the Revs getting their seventh foul with 11:35 remaining and the Billikens getting theirs with 10:38 remaining.
Following a timeout with 8:35, Saint Louis began to double Castro when the Revs found him in the post. The team was able to force Castro to dish the ball to Autry in a congested area in the two following defensive possessions, resulting in a travel. They then forced Castro again to give a wild cross-court pass, resulting in a contested deep 3-point attempt.
With the momentum from the defense, St. Louis went on a 13-0 run, with Green and Avila netting threes each cementing their two-man game.
The Revs’ offense then changed from Castro post-ups to aggressive drives to the rim as any foul would result in free throws due to the bonus. Jones and Marshall shot six free throws between them from attacks at the rim with Jones going 2-2 and Marshall going 3-4.
With the Billikens leading 73-72 and three minutes remaining, redshirt junior forward Garrett Johnson pump faked past several Saint Louis defenders to tuck the ball nicely under the rim. Avila travelled the following play, leaving the Revs with a 1-point lead and possession of the ball.
Marshall missed his jumper resulting in a Saint Louis redshirt junior guard Kellen Thames drive at the other end, dishing the ball to the trailing Avila for a three, tilting the game back towards the Billikens with a 2-point lead.
Off a missed layup from Jones, Castro slammed the putback to even the game 76-76. A missed Saint Louis 3-point shot and a contested Marshall drive left Saint Louis a timeout with 17 seconds remaining.
In the final play of the game, Thames picked up the ball again and performs a similar drive to one minute prior, before dishing the ball out to Avila again from three-point range, who put the dagger to finish the game 79-76.
The defeat leaves the Revs 1-3 in their last four conference games. Despite an inspiring performance, they continue to have issues closing out games, putting them sixth in the A-10 conference — two spots below their predicted finish.
The Revs will play their second conference game against Fordham at the Smith Center on Jan. 31 at 2 p.m.
