Sixth-seeded Saint Louis received a game-high 24 points from Tramaine Isabell Jr. as the Billikens upended No. 3 Dayton 64-55 Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Basketball Championship at Barclays Center.
Saint Louis (21-12) advances to face No. 2 seed Davidson tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. (CT) in the A-10 semifinals. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
Isabell was 9-of-18 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range. He also dished out a team-leading six assists.
Jordan Goodwin provided a big spark on the boards, grabbing five on the offensive end and nine for the game. He also scored 17 points.
Javon Bess turned in 15 points, while D.J. Foreman grabbed nine rebounds.
Dayton went on top by six midway through the first half before the Billikens utilized a 9-0 run to take the lead late in the opening session. The Flyers led by one at the break, 64-55.
The Billikens scored the first two points in the second half on a pair of Goodwin free throws to take the lead, and they wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. A 7-0 run, sparked by a Foreman layup and punctuated by one of Isabell’s four 3-pointers, put SLU on top 43-36 with 14:38 remaining. SLU grew its lead to nine when a Javon Bess jumper at the 9:43 mark made it 52-43 Billikens.
Dayton did not go down quietly, however. The Flyers cut it to two at 53-51 with 4:45 left before a big Goodwin triple sparked a late 9-0 rally, and the Billikens would cruise to the win.
SLU will be looking for a berth in Sunday’s A-10 Championship final with a win tomorrow against Davidson. Rhode Island and St. Bonaventure meet on the other side of the bracket at Noon (CT).
