Robbie Avila had 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists on Saturday night to help No. 23 Saint Louis stave off visiting Duquesne for a 91-76 victory in Atlantic 10 Conference play.
Quentin Jones added 17 points and Trey Green scored 14 for Saint Louis (26-3, 14-2 A-10), which had dropped two of its previous three games. The Billikens, who trailed by 12 points early in the first half, made 16 of their 28 3-point attempts (57.1%). Paul Otieno scored 13 points off the bench.
Tarence Guinyard led Duquesne (16-13, 8-8) with 27 points, followed by Jimmie Williams’ 16 and David Dixon’s 12.
Trailing by two at halftime, Saint Louis opened the second half on a 15-4 run, with Avila’s seven straight points giving the Billikens a 54-45 edge.
Otieno’s layup with 10:59 left pushed the lead to 65-56. Guinyard’s free throw trimmed the margin to five with 8:05 remaining.
Williams and Avila traded 3-pointers, as the Billikens grabbed a nine-point edge with 6:20 remaining. From there, Dixon’s free throws followed by five straight points from Guinyard trimmed Saint Louis’ lead to 76-74.
Green then made back-to-back triples to build the cushion back to eight before drilling two free throws to give the Billikens an 84-74 advantage with 2:15 left. Otieno’s jumper then sealed Saint Louis’ much-needed win.
Guinyard and Williams made consecutive 3-pointers before Jakub Necas’ dunk put the Dukes ahead 20-8 with 15:18 left in the first half. Saint Louis answered with five straight points, as Green’s three-point play pulled the Billikens within seven.
Duquesne went five-plus minutes without a made field goal before Alex Williams’ triple gave the visitors a 26-20 edge with 10:06 remaining.
Ishan Sharma’s three with 7:13 left gave Saint Louis its first lead at 28-26.
Later in the opening half, Green connected on the Billikens’ seventh triple to trim the deficit to a point. Dixon’s layup and John Hugley IV’s three-point play then gave the Dukes a 40-34 lead.
Guinyard had 14 points in the first half for Duquesne, which led 41-39 at the midway point.
