Late in the second half of the SLU-Richmond game, some of the lights went out in the Robins Center at Richmond and John O’Connor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch turned to me and said, “They forgot to pay the bill.” Actually, we later learned, it was because high winds in the area were playing havoc with power lines in the area.

This didn’t mean much to me at the time, though it turns out it’s why I’m still in Richmond as I type this. The high winds in the area had prevented the Delta flight that was supposed to take me home from landing in Richmond, which prevented me from leaving on Sunday night as planned.

One thing I’ve learned in my travels is that if you’re flying on Delta and your flight is cancelled, Delta’s computer will rebook you on the worst flight it possibly can. Earlier this season, Delta changed one of my flights about a month before my travel date, and the computer rebooked me on a flight with a four-hour layover in Atlanta. As fascinating as airports may be, I have no great desire to spend four hours in them. On that occasion, I called Delta to see if I could avoid a four-hour layover in Atlanta and they said, “Oh sure, here’s a different flight with an hour layover.” They put me on that flight. On Sunday, night, I called Delta and was told they had rebooked me on a flight that would get into St. Louis at 5 p.m. on Monday. After I was done screaming, they told me they could rebook me on a flight that got into St. Louis a little after 1.

But I digress. (And I feel a lot better after getting that off my chest.)

It was a good win for SLU on Sunday, though any road win for SLU is a good one. (SLU now has two road wins to set off three home losses.) The offense wasn’t at its best, but it did enough to get the win. (I think I’ve written that before.) SLU has now alternated wins and losses over the past eight games, but I think it’s got a decent shot on Wednesday against George Washington.

It’s an interesting group SLU is tied with at 4-5: UMass, Dayton and La Salle. Dayton has got to be killing its at-large chances with five losses in six games. Whenever they get Wright back, they need to start winning a lot. I don’t care if your RPI is good; if you finish seventh in the Atlantic 10, that will be held against you.

SLU shot 86.4 percent from the line, a pretty good number for them. The 13 offensive rebounds matched their number against George Washington and Sam Houston State as the high for the season. SLU’s 26 points off the bench was its third most this season, behind Houston Baptist and Furman. Majerus used just a three-man bench in the game, as Adam Knollmeyer didn’t play for the first time since Dec. 29.

SLU’s opponents have shot less than 44 percent in 11 of the past 13 games. Richmond’s points per possession was .90.

Tommie Liddell’s run of 3-point less games is at 6. He didn’t try one on Sunday.

Kevin Lisch has hit 13 straight free throws over three games.

Luke Meyer’s minutes are down. He played just 25 against Richmond, his fewest since the Kent State game when everyone got a lot of rest.

Dwayne Polk played just 11 minutes, his lowest for the season. Paul Eckerle played a big chunk of the first half and Majerus used Eckerle and Danny Brown a lot in the second half.

I was sitting next to Bob Dandridge, who was scouting the game for the Milwaukee Bucks. On the play where Husak got two or three rebounds and kept shooting before the ball went in, Dandridge turned to me and said, “He took a beating on that one. But he did what he had to do.” That one play helped his rebounding numbers but spoiled his shooting stats. He was 2 for 8.

Paul Eckerle was 0 for 4 shooting, 0 for 3 on 3’s, though all were good looks at the basket.

Danny Brown had another big game with 14 points and five rebounds. He’s been in double figures in three of the past five games.

The plus-minus numbers. Majerus made relatively few substitutions in the game and ket the same five: Brown, Liddell, Lisch, Meyer and Eberhardt on the court for the final five minutes.

Liddell +14

Eberhardt +11

Brown +8

Meyer +7

Lisch +7

Polk +1

Eckerle -1

Husak -2

From Majerus:

“This was Barry’s best defensive effort. Eckerle missed four excellent shots, he was wide open. I think Tommie played a very sound defensive game. Kevin’s just a warrior. I was really happy for our guys. They made pretty good adjustments. They executed well the little plan we had put together.”

Majerus on Husak: “He showed a lot of determination. It’s a shame the guy only has a month left in his career. He keeps brining the ball down. He’s trying not to. … They’re all making improvements. Bryce, no question, has gotten a little confidence despite the loss the other day.”

On the defense: “Since Dec. 15, with the exception of Dayton at Dayton, our effort has been an “A” effort, sometimes an A-plus effort, Xavier was an A-double plus. I couldn’t have asked more. There was no more blood to get out of that turnip. We just lost. We beat ourselves sometimes. Hopefully, we’ll right the ship.”