Without Isaiah Swope, SLU has enough to beat William Woods

St. Louis University is stretched thin when it comes to players, but had enough of William Woods, an NAIA school from Fulton, Missouri, 78-57 Saturday night at Chaifetz Arena.

Gibson Jimerson scored 28 points, three off a career high, and Robbie Avila had 23 points, six rebounds and six assists. Freshman Max Pikaar blocked five shots in the first half but none in the second, and the school record of eight by Kelvin Henderson in 1979 was safe.

The only negative — aside from the ever-growing list of injuries — was SLU’s free throw shooting, which continues to be poor. SLU made just 51.6% of its free throws, its third straight game shooting below 60% at the line. SLU made just 16 of 31 attempts and shot nearly as well, 42.1%, on 3-point shots.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Billikens, who finished their nonconference season with a 7-6 record. Now it’s getting serious for SLU, which begins Atlantic 10 Conference play on Tuesday against Fordham in New York.

SLU coach Josh Schertz used just seven players until he cleared his bench and inserted AJ Casey, Kilian Brockhoff and walk-ons Jaden Schertz and Isaac Holmes with 2:33 left. For Casey, it was his first game since playing against Avila on November 10.

SLU was without Isaiah Swope, its leader in points per game. match and the player with the second most minutes. Swope had injured his knee twice last season and had surgery after the season ended and has now been bothered by some inflammation in the knee. It was uncertain whether he would play recently against Grand Canyon, but did, but was not good enough to go against William Woods.

Swope’s absence, along with the season-ending knee injury to Josiah Dotzler and a strained hip flexor, plus severe cramps for Kellen Thames, left SLU with just four guards for the game: McCottry, Jimerson, Kobe Johnson and Dylan Warlick, who was playing his fourth. collegiate game. McCottry started in Swope’s place, and Warlick rotated through all three spots while the starters got breaks.

Avila’s status for the game had been in doubt after he missed Friday’s practice with an illness, but he was fit enough to start Saturday and play 16 minutes in the first half. Although he had other options off the bench, Schertz only used one front lineman off the bench, Pikaar, who, aside from SLU’s other NAIA opponent, Avila, and Chicago State, SLU’s only healthy win over an NCAA opponent, hasn’t seen much action. Casey was in uniform for his fourth straight game as he slowly works his way back from an ankle injury.

Schertz had touted William Woods as an NAIA championship-caliber team — it’s ranked just outside the top 25 in the NAIA poll — and the Owls stuck with the Billikens for most of the first half, save for a 21-5 run by SLU that gave SLU its biggest lead of the half with 16 points. Jimerson had 10 of the 21 points and, in a stretch, SLU made nine of 11 field goal attempts.

SLU led by 10 at the half, and WWU scored the first four points of the second half to cut the lead to six, but WWU struggled with both shooting and ball handling, and SLU gradually extended its lead to 17 points.

Jaden Schertz made a layup with 52.0 seconds to play for his first pitch as a Billiken, but couldn’t finish the three-point play. Then after getting a rebound, he dribbled down the court, faked a shot that sent a WWU defender falling and then stepped back to hit a 3-pointer.

Saint Louis 78, William Woods 57

Okwuosah 28 6-12 0-0 1-7 0 3 16

Shannon 17 4-6 3-5 1-2 0 3 11

Schwartze 15 4-5 0-0 0-2 1 4 8

Wiltz 26 2-4 1-2 0-3 5 1 5

Taylor 30 1-4 0-0 0-8 3 4 2

Titus 22 3-10 0-0 3-5 0 4 7

Pannell 18 2-7 0-0 0-0 0 1 4

Ashton 17 1-5 0-2 0-0 0 2 3

LaBounty 12 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 0

Wetzel 11 0-5 1-2 1-2 0 0 1

Barbieri 5 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Total 200 23-59 5-11 6-31 9 23 57

Percentages: FG .390, FT .455.

3-point goal: 6-22, .273 (Okwuosah 4-7, Ashton 1-3, Titus 1-3, Taylor 0-2, Pannell 0-3, Wetzel 0-4).

Blocked Shots: 1 (Shannon).

Revenue: 17 (Wiltz 4, Shannon 3, Pannell 2, Schwartze 2, Taylor 2, Titus 2, LaBounty, Okwuosah).

Steals: 5 (Wiltz 2, Pannell, Schwartze, Taylor).

Anya 21 3-4 0-4 0-5 2 0 6

Avila 30 9-15 4-8 0-6 6 0 23

Jimerson 36 8-16 6-8 1-3 0 2 28

Johnson 32 1-2 0-0 0-2 3 2 2

McCottry 22 1-3 1-4 0-4 1 1 3

Warlick 25 3-5 3-3 2-6 1 3 9

Pikaar 24 0-2 2-4 1-6 2 2 2

Brockhoff 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Casey 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Holmes 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Schertz 3 2-2 0-1 0-1 0 1 5

Total 200 27-50 16-32 4-33 15 11 78

Percentages: FG .540, FT .500.

3-point goal: 8-19, .421 (Jimerson 6-14, Schertz 1-1, Avila 1-2, Holmes 0-1, Pikaar 0-1).

Blocked Shots: 7 (Pikaar 5, Johnson 2).

Revenue: 14 (McCottry 3, Jimerson 2, Johnson 2, Schertz 2, Warlick 2, Anya, Avila, Pikaar).

Steals: 10 (Avila 4, Jimerson 3, McCottry 3).

William Woods 34 23 — 57