ST. LOUIS—Three straight 3-pointers gave Saint Louis a healthy cushion over Nebraska. Defense did the rest.
Kwamain Mitchell scored 20 points and Saint Louis hit three of its seven 3-pointers in succession to help pull away from Nebraska in a 69-55 victory on Wednesday night.
“The game changes when another team makes a big shot, especially in clutch time,” Mitchell said. “We kept moving to get the defense moving and eventually we had open shots.”
Freshman Christian Salecich scored 11 points, with two of his three 3-pointers in an 11-0 run that put Saint Louis (2-0) ahead 44-31 with just over 14 minutes remaining. Nebraska twice cut the deficit to eight but shot only 33 percent in the second half and 40 percent overall.
Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said Saint Louis won because it was more aggressive and relentless. The Billikens are the only major college team in the country with no juniors or seniors on the roster.
“Last year at our place we played much harder and this year they played much harder,” Sadler said. “We have enough problems scoring that we’d better do what they do, and that’s grind people.”
Mitchell was 7-for-10 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range.
“It’s going to be what it is, up and down,” Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus said. “You can’t get too excited about this win. We’re here to build a program and we’re going to do it.”
Sek Henry had 14 points and Ryan Anderson added 10 for Nebraska (1-1), which has lost 13 of its last 14 road openers. Lance Jeter, who had 17 points in the Huskers’ 76-49 opening victory over South Carolina Upstate, was held to seven.
Nebraska center Jorge Brian Diaz was elbowed in the mouth in the opening two minutes, loosening two teeth and requiring stitches and was scoreless with one rebound after getting nine points and 11 rebounds in the opener.
The Huskers beat Saint Louis 71-57 last year in Lincoln, Neb., and the Billikens were eager to even the score.
“Last year at their place they killed us,” Mitchell said. “Through my mind the whole game I was thinking ‘We’re not going to lose this game.'”
Saint Louis survived a prolonged drought at the end of the first half, scoring only two points on 1-for-12 shooting in the final 7:34 and settling for a 28-27 lead. Nebraska failed to capitalize, scoring only seven points during that stretch.
“We were a little fired up about that,” said Saint Louis forward Kyle Cassity, who had eight points, seven rebounds and four assists. “We just stepped it up and it worked out.”
Nebraska led only once, on Anderson’s layup to open the second half for a 29-28 lead.
Both teams stumbled at the end of the half with Nebraska whistled for a shot-clock violation and Saint Louis working the ball for the final 30 seconds without getting off a shot.
