Saint Louis University Billikens Willie Reed (33) gets tangled up with Green Bay Phoenixs' Bryquis Perine Bill Greenblatt UPI St. Louis
Willie Reed tied his career scoring high with 21 points and 10 rebounds Monday night as Saint Louis advanced to the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) with a 68-62 double-overtime victory over Green Bay at Chaifetz Arena.
The Billikens (22-11), who improved to 3-2 in overtime games this season, with all three win coming in double OT. Reed was 8-of-11 from the field with his eighth double-double of the season, and picked up two blocks to break Kelvin Henderson’s 30-year-old single-season school record. Reed has 69 blocks, one more than Henderson registered in the 1979-80 campaign.
Kwamain Mitchell and Cody Ellis scored 14 points apiece, with Ellis grabbing eight rebounds and Mitchell adding four assists. All of Ellis’ points came in the second half and overtime. Kyle Cassity tied a career high with six assists.
Down 27-25 at the break, The Phoenix began the second half with a 13-0 run to open a 38-27 Green Bay advantage.
The Billikens broke their second-half scoring drought when Ellis connected on a 15-footer. Reed made a layup on a baseline out-of-bounds play, and Mitchell’s fast-break layup narrowed the Green Bay lead to 38-33, but GB answered with five points to make it a 43-33 game.
SLU started to chip away at the lead and managed to tie the score at 53 with :25 remaining. The Phoenix missed potential game-winning shot, and the game was sent to overtime.
In the first OT, the Bills grabbed a lead on Ellis’ 10-foot baseline turnaround, then led 56-54 when Fletcher and Reed exchanged free throws. Pearson’s 15-footer made it 56-all with a little more than a minute to play, and neither team could register a game-winning shot.
SLU scored the first four points of the second OT and led 65-61 thanks to two free throws late that helped seal the win. SLU will now host Princeton in a semifinal matchup Wednesday at 8 p.m. The Tigers also were a double-overtime winner Monday, defeating IUPUI 74-68 in Indianapolis.
