As I mentioned yesterday, SLU hasn’t had many situations like Sunday’s, where Kevin Lisch hit a 3 at the end of the second overtime to keep SLU alive to win in triple overtime. Over the past few years, the list of SLU pulling out a win at the end is pretty short. In 06-07, they won the game against Missouri State on a basket by Ian Vouyoukas that actually came after the horn.

I went back through all of SLU’s close games in the past three years to see if my memory was playing tricks on me or not. It wasn’t. Every time SLU won a close game, it came from ahead. SLU would be in the lead and either make just enough free throws or play well on defense to get the stop they needed to keep the other team from getting the winner. Only once was there a last second shot — Danny Brown against Dayton, but that didn’t win it, just sent it to another overtime.

To chronicle SLU’s close calls, with the help of the P-D story archive, I pulled out my game stories from those close games and fetched the relevant paragraphs that described what happened at crunch time. For the sake of thoroughness, in a few other instances when SLU won a close game because of its defense, I briefly describe what happen. You’ll recognize that those descriptions lack the typical lyrical quality of my work. You can see how one constant over the years is my use of the word “but.” They don’t make conjunctions any better than that.

This season:

Kent State regulation:

But Kent State tied the game as Fisher drove to the basket for a lay-in and had a chance to go ahead when Barry Eberhardt was called for blocking. Fisher missed the free throw and SLU had a chance to win in regulation. Mitchell brought the ball upcourt and got it to Tommie Liddell, who passed to Kevin Lisch, who was almost 30 feet from the basket and whose prayer came up short just ahead of the buzzer.

Kent State overtime:

Kent State ran the clock down and got the ball to Fisher, who drove to the basket and scored with two seconds remaining to win it. Mitchell threw up a half-court shot at the buzzer that hit the rim but didn’t go in.

Detroit

Even after Payne made two free throws, it was still a one-possession game with 26 seconds left. Mitchell drove and tried to pass to an open Cotto for a 3, but the ball was just off target and Cotto had to move to get it. His shot gone, he passed to Lisch, who had to force a 3 that was blocked with four seconds left. That was that.

07-08:

Dayton in A-10 tournament:

Twice SLU had the ball in its hands and a chance to win and twice the Billikens couldn’t even get off a good shot. On the last try, Brown, who had a career-high 24 points, put up a desperation jumper with 2 seconds to play that missed, and SLU suffered a 63-62 overtime defeat at the hands of Dayton in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 tournament at Boardwalk Hall.

Regulation:

Dayton then worked for a shot, only to see Roberts get called for charging into Lisch with 21 seconds to play. That gave SLU a chance to work for the last shot and the win.
It didn’t work. With the clock running down, Lisch dribbled across the key, only to have the ball go off his leg and go to Dayton’s London Warren. Warren missed a layup with 2 seconds to play and Andres Sandoval’s 3 at the buzzer was off the rim.

In overtime, SLU went ahead for the first time since the opening minutes on a 3-pointer by Liddell before the Flyers retook the lead with 32 seconds to play.
SLU had one last chance. Lisch dribbled down the clock but didn’t get a needed pick, putting him “in a situation he normally wouldn’t be in,” Majerus said. The ball came to Brown with not much time left.
“I felt like I would be able to drive,” Brown said, “but I was cut off so I put up a midrange shot. I got a pretty good look, but not all shots go in.”

Fordham:
Fordham hit a 3 at the end of regulation to tie and in overtime, Fordham missed a shot at the end.

Xavier:
Xavier tip in at buzzer. In regulation, Lisch makes an old-fashioned three-point play to tie the game with 11.6 seconds left.

Temple:

In overtime:

Temple scored five points in the first 64 seconds of overtime, which turned out to be enough. SLU got the lead down to one with 1:54 to play and had two tries to move ahead.
On the first, with about a minute to play, Lisch appeared to have an open look at a 3. “I probably should have taken it, but it’s a long game, you’re not going to see everything,” he said. But instead he passed to Tommie Liddell, whose shot was blocked by Tyndale.
SLU’s defense held again and the Billikens had a chance to win with 19 seconds left. The play was designed to go to Luke Meyer, but Temple’s defense denied that. Instead, the ball came to Liddell, who passed to Lisch with about four seconds left. Christmas knocked the ball away from Lisch and it went into the backcourt for a disputed over-and-back call, though even if there hadn’t been a call, Lisch would have had the ball facing away from the basket at midcourt with less than a second on the clock.

Regulation:

Temple had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but Mark Tyndale was well-guarded and couldn’t score on a drive to the basket just ahead of the buzzer.

Dayton:
SLU defense stops Dayton at end of regulation.

06-07:
UMass in A-10 tournament:
On Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament in Boardwalk Hall, Liddell stole the ball from Chris Lowe of UMass with SLU protecting a two-point lead and seven seconds to go in overtime. “When I saw him driving,” Liddell said, “I saw an opportunity to steal the ball and get it out of his hands.”
With the game tied at 55, neither team could score in the final minute of regulation.

Dayton (double overtime):
In regulation, with the game tied at 45, Kevin Lisch drove the lane and hit a pull-up 8-footer that rolled in with 19.7 seconds left. Dayton called time to set up the last play and almost gave it away, when Dayton star Brian Roberts threw a pass to nobody that Marcus Johnson rescued. Johnson forced up a shot as the clock ran down that missed, but Norman Plummer grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Liddell with 1.6 seconds to play. He made both free throws, sending the game to overtime.
In the first overtime, with the game tied in the final minute, Lisch missed a 3 but the long rebound was grabbed by Luke Meyer who had a career-high 14 rebounds. SLU called time with 30.3 seconds to play and a chance to work for the last shot. Again, they didn’t get it off. Soderberg set up a play for Lisch off a feed from Meyer. But the pass that was to start the play, from Liddell to Meyer, got stolen by Dayton’s Charles Little, who dunked what looked like the game-winner with 6.1 seconds to play.
Danny Brown got the inbound pass and went the length of the court, throwing up a shot that tied the game with 0.8 of a second to play, forcing the second overtime.

UMass:
And then in the final seconds, Liddell had the ball stolen from him as SLU worked for the potential game-winner.

Houston:
The Billikens committed 19 turnovers - 13 in the second half - in a 59-58 loss to Houston. They had seven in the final 5:20 and the game, almost appropriately, ended with Houston’s Oliver Lafayette knocking the ball out of Ian Vouyoukas’ hand as he stood with the ball under the basket with 1 second to play.