Kellen Thames scored 16 points and made five steals as No. 18 Saint Louis rallied past visiting VCU 88-75 on Friday night in a testy game that featured a fight and extensive ejections in the closing seconds when the result was in hand.
The Rams’ Nyk Lewis stole the ball in the final second and was knocked out of bounds by the Billikens’ Robbie Avila. Players and coaches from both teams then came onto the floor, continuing to argue while officials reviewed the play to determine who would be ejected.
Ultimately, Saint Louis’ Quentin Jones and VCU’s Barry Evans were ejected with flagrant-2 fouls. The Rams were left with just four players on the court after the entire bench was ejected. The Billikens were left with only six players after all but two of their bench players were ejected.
The Billikens (25-1, 13-1 Atlantic 10) trailed by 14 in the first half before outscoring the Rams (21-7, 12-3) by a 55-33 margin in the second half, snapping VCU’s 10-game winning streak. Amari McCottry, Ishan Sharma and Avila each scored 13 points for Saint Louis. Lazar Djokovic scored 19 points and Brandon Jennings chipped in 18 for VCU.
No. 7 Purdue 93, Indiana 64
Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 20 points and Fletcher Loyer and Omer Mayer each added 18 as the Boilermakers routed the Hoosiers in West Lafayette, Ind.
Purdue led by as many as 34, shooting 64.7% from the field and doubling up Indiana on the glass (30-15). Braden Smith had 15 points and eight assists, while Kaufman-Renn added six boards and five assists as Purdue leveled the in-state rivalry series this season.
Lamar Wilkerson led the Hoosiers with 20 points while Tayton Conerway (12), Tucker DeVries (11) and Reed Bailey (10) followed in double figures.
No. 22 Miami (Ohio) 91, Bowling Green 77
Luke Skaljac racked up 24 points and Eian Elmer supplied 21 as the RedHawks kept the only perfect record in Division I men’s basketball intact with a win over the Falcons in Oxford, Ohio.
Skaljac shot 5 of 10 from 3-point range and Elmer went 5 of 8 to account for most of Miami’s 13 triples in 30 attempts. Peter Suder had 10 points and five rebounds while battling foul trouble, and Antwone Woolfolk added 10 points and eight boards to help make Miami (Ohio) four games away from a perfect regular season.
Javontae Campbell carried the Falcons (16-12, 7-8) with 24 points, six rebounds and six assists before fouling out. Mayar Wol had 15 points and Josiah Shackelford added 12, each with three 3-pointers.
–Field Level Media
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