Saint Louis rallies from 14 down to beat VCU, 88-75, take control of Atlantic 10 race

Tom Timmermann, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Feb 20, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

ST. LOUIS — Saint Louis University turned what looked like another ordeal on the court into a rollicking romp, using a 33-9 blitz in the second half to beat VCU, 88-75, and take control of the Atlantic 10 Conference race in a battle of the league’s top two teams.

The game ended with both benches clearing after some pushing with 1.1 seconds to go. Robbie Avila fouled Nyk Lewis after Lewis stole the ball and threw up a desperation heave. VCU's Barry Evans raced in and shoved SLU's Dion Brown to the ground, and then SLU's Quentin Jones raced in to shove Evans. Next thing you knew, everyone on both teams was on the court, looking for someone to push. Jones and Evans both got flagrant 2 fouls and were ejected, as were every player who left the bench to join in. SLU coach Josh Schertz said he didn't expect there would be any supplemental discipline.

SLU, ranked 18th nationally, improved to 25-2, 13-1 in the A-10, while VCU, which came into the game winners of 10 straight, is 21-7, 12-3. With SLU having swept the season series from VCU, it controls the head-to-head tiebreaker should it come down to that.

Kellen Thames, who was the star for SLU of the first meeting, had 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting, and Avila, Ishan Sharma and Amari McCottry each had 13. Paul Otieno had seven points and eight rebounds. SLU made 7 of its 12 3-point tries in the second half while VCU, which made 8 of 15 3s in the first half, was 1 for 14 in the second half and didn't make its first until there were 20 seconds to go in the game.

SLU trailed 57-49 with 12:29 to play and had never led in the game before suddenly doing everything right that it hadn’t up to that point. It hit 3s, got out running and got stop after stop after the quality of VCU’s 3s got worse and worse.

SLU trailed by nine at the half and closed that to four in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half, but dropped back by nine. SLU, though, went on a 21-2 run that not only put them ahead, but gave them some breathing room as well.

McCottry had a chance to put SLU ahead with a free throw but missed, but Avila backed his way in for a lay-in with 9:32 to go to give SLU its first lead of the game. Sharma hit a 3 and Thames then had a steal and a lay-in to put SLU up 66-59 and force a VCU time out with 8:17 to go. After the timeout, there was an Avila 3 and one free throw by Thames and SLU was all of a sudden up by 11 points.

On SLU’s first possession of the game, it missed a layup, missed a 3 and then turned the ball over, pretty much setting the tone for the first half right there. VCU scored the game’s first 11 points and SLU never really caught up. SLU missed its first seven 3-point tries and didn’t make one until Trey Green sank one 11 minutes into the half.

While SLU was missing its 3s, VCU was hitting them. In the first half, VCU made 8 of 15 3s, while SLU, which had been so dependable on 3s, made just 3 of 13. McCottry and Brady Dunlap were both 0 for 3 on 3s. SLU turned the ball over 10 times in the half, three by Thames and two by Sharma.

SLU closed its deficit to six points on a 3 by Sharma with 2:01 to go in the half, and it looked like for all its struggles, SLU might be within shouting distance at the half. SLU had a chance to cut the lead to three after a VCU turnover, but Dunlap took an off balance 3 and missed and Lazar Djokovic hit a 3 to move the lead back to nine. A lay-in by Thames cut it to seven but VCU hit two free throws with 0.8 seconds to go after getting its ninth offensive rebound of the half to make it 42-33 at the break.

SLU now has to go on the road to face Dayton on Tuesday.