Kwamain Mitchell scored a game-high 19 points and Willie Reed added 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks to lead the Saint Louis Billikens to a 63-54 victory over Indiana State Tuesday in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational at Chaifetz Arena.
The win puts the Bills (21-11) into next Monday’s quarterfinals. The game will be played at Chaifetz Arena, with the starting time to be announced.
Reed scored 13 points in the first half as SLU built a 37-24 lead, while Mitchell scored 13 points in the second half. SLU jumped out to a 17-4 lead and went on another big first half run to open up a 28-12 lead. Indiana State sliced the SLU lead to 37-29 in the second half, but the Billikens went on a 13-5 flurry to put SLU on top 50-34.
The Billikens forced 17 Sycamore turnovers and capitalized nicely by scoring 23 points off those miscues. SLU also posted a 32-20 edge in points in the paint.