University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Saint Louis
Last-Second Jumper Gives Billikens Win Over UMass, 50-48
January 14, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2006
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) - Tommie Liddell hit an off-balance jumper with 1.5 seconds left to give Saint Louis University a 50-48 win over Massachusetts Saturday night.
With the game tied at 48-48, the Billikens (8-7, 2-1 Atlantic 10) played for the last shot with Kevin Lisch handling the ball between the circles. With 8 seconds left, he passed to Liddell, who drove to his left and launched a fadeaway jumper from the left wing that connected.
Liddell's basket ended a scoring drought that began when Lisch connected on a 3-pointer with 4:30 remaining that gave Saint Louis a 48-44 lead.
Ian Vouyoukas led the Billikens with 18 points, Lisch added 14 and Liddell had seven.
Jeff Viggiano led Massachusetts (7-6, 2-1) with 15 points. Rashaun Freeman, who averaged a team-leading 16.3 points per game, was held to four points before fouling out with 5:26 remaining.
Stephane Lasme scored only three points for the Minutemen but had seven blocked shots. Lasme, who has 59 blocks, entered the game third in the nation at 4.3 per game.
The first half was one of short runs. After Viggiano hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring, Saint Louis scored the next nine points to take a 9-3 lead.
Massachusetts then scored the next nine points, with James Life hitting consecutive 3-point shots from the right wing to fuel the streak.
Saint Louis took the lead back at 15-12 with 9:02 left in the half on back-to-back 3-point shots from Anthony Drejaj and Lisch. The Billikens led by as much as six at 20-14, but Massachusetts chipped away and got a couple of late baskets from Freeman to tie the game at 26-26 at halftime.
