ST. LOUIS (AP)—Kevin Lisch scored 27 points and Saint Louis survived a furious comeback by Houston to defeat the Cougars 81-78 on Saturday.
Tommie Liddell added 17 points and Ian Vouyoukas finished with 16 for the Billikens (4-1), who had fallen to Texas A&M 69-33 on Sunday in their worst offensive performance since 1951.
The Cougars (3-1) started cold, missing their first 12 attempted field goals before taking the lead 25-24 on a 19-5 run that ended with Oliver Lafayette’s 3-pointer with 6:01 remaining in the period.
Trailing 35-32 at halftime, Saint Louis opened the second period with a 16-2 run of its own to go up 48-37 with 15:24 left in the game.
Houston, down by 19 points later in the period, fought back to within 80-78 with 26 seconds remaining. A Saint Louis free throw and a 3-point attempt by Houston’s Robert McKiver that lipped out of the basket with just over 3 seconds left accounted for the final score.
Lafayette led the Cougars with 24 points.
