Saint Louis had already tipped off against George Washington in the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals when news broke of Billikens coach Josh Schertz’s extension.
So the top-ranked Billikens may have had some extra motivation vs. the No. 9 Revolutionaries on Friday at PPG Paints Arena, with a trip to the league semifinals on the line.
It took a furious second-half rally, but Saint Louis (27-4) overcame a 21-point deficit and late push by George Washington to win 88-81, averting a damaging blow to its NCAA Tournament resume.
“Obviously, the players weren’t much inspired, so they were trying to get me fired before I signed (the extension),” Schertz quipped after the victory. “…That was obviously not the way we planned it, but really proud of our team, the resilience we showed. (George Washington) has a really good team — super talented, very well-coached. Run great stuff. Really hard to play against on both ends.”
The Revolutionaries (18-15), who topped No. 8 Fordham in the first round Wednesday, dominated the first half and led by 14 at the break as Saint Louis, which lost by 29 to George Mason in its regular-season finale, struggled for offense and 3-point defense.
But in the end, 22 points from Atlantic 10 Player of the Year Robbie Avila, plus 19 from Trey Green and 14 from Kellen Thames proved sufficient to carry Saint Louis to the win.
Still, it remained anyone’s game until the closing seconds, as things were tied at 78 with under two minutes to go, and Saint Louis led by three with 14 seconds left.
Saint Louis will now face the winner of No. 4 Dayton and No. 13 St. Bonaventure at 1 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals.
“I think we just have some tough guys, some resilient guys,” Avila said. “It’s been the key for us all season, especially this conference run. We’ve been in multiple situations like this where we start off not the way we want to, we go down by double digits but we always find a way.
“…It’s just a mentality thing, a physicality thing, so we’re going to go ahead and get right and get ready for tomorrow.”
At halftime, the Revolutionaries were ahead 48-34.
Whatever Schertz said to the Billikens in the locker room led to a rally just minutes into the second half, as Saint Louis was within 50-41 at the 18:30 mark.
Roughly 90 seconds later, George Washington’s lead had been trimmed to five, 50-45, with Saint Louis beginning the second half on an 11-2 run.
Continuing to utilize the long ball, the Revolutionaries managed to go back up by 11, but after a Saint Louis counterpunch, the Billikens were only down four at 56-52, with 13:49 to play.
But heading into the under-8 media timeout, Avila drained three 3-pointers in a short span and Thames slammed home a dunk on the fastbreak to give Saint Louis a 70-67 lead.
Saint Louis had crafted a nine-point lead with about four minutes to go, but at the 2:21 mark, George Washington was back in the fight, down only 78-76.
The Revolutionaries led 79-78, with 1:47 to go, with Saint Louis re-taking the lead at the 1:24 mark.
That would prove to be George Washington’s final lead, as the Billikens inched away.
Saint Louis shot 45.8% from the floor and 33.3% from deep in the win.
“It’s an imperfect game,” Schertz said. “When you’re playing against really good teams, it’s not going to always go the way you want. … Teams are going to make it hard on you. I get all that, but we’ve got to, to make a run here in Pittsburgh and beyond, play to our identity, understand our formula and do it more consistently.”