Saint Louis’ relentless offense clobbers Georgia

Dion Brown scored 18 points and ninth-seeded Saint Louis ran a layup line for most of a 102-77 rout of eighth-seeded Georgia in a first-round NCAA Tournament Midwest Region game on Thursday night in Buffalo, N.Y.

Amari McCottry added 13 for the Billikens (29-5), which advanced to a second-round contest Saturday against top-seeded Michigan. Robbie Avila chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and four assists and Ishan Sharma contributed 12 points in a reserve role.

Brady Dunlap and Kellen Thames came off the bench for 11 points apiece as Saint Louis led for all but 21 seconds and owned a 40-point advantage on two occasions in the second half. A 17-2 game-ending spurt enabled Georgia to make the final score look somewhat respectable.

Jeremiah Wilkinson scored a game-high 30 points for the Bulldogs (22-11) and Marcus Millender added 13. Georgia made only 9 of 35 shots (25.7%) in the first half and couldn't find any traction offensively until it trailed 67-32.

The Bulldogs clearly focused their defensive game plan on running the Billikens off the 3-point line. But Saint Louis, which entered the game as the No. 2 3-point shooting team in Division I at 40.1%, adjusted and spent the night making one layup after another.

A 23-6 run over a span of 5:25 gave the Billikens a 37-18 advantage after McCottry's layup with 5:42 remaining. The half ended in fitting fashion as Dunlap drove for a layup with 27 seconds left to make it 49-32 at intermission.

Saint Louis ripped off 18 unanswered points to begin the second half -- all on layups or dunks, most as a result of superb ball movement -- to put the game out of reach.

Saint Louis ended the game with 43 bench points, 27 assists on 42 made buckets and a 47-36 rebounding advantage.