Bills hold off Rockhurst

The Bills raised their record to 6-3 with a 66-53 victory over Rockhurst in a game that was probably more interesting than it needed to be.
SLU led from start to finish, but the Hawks put up a game effort and did not go away. With just under five minutes to play, Rockhurst was only five points down and very much in the game.
Despite the fact that their top player, Aaron Hill, was held to seven points on 3 of 13 shooting, Rockhurst hustled and worked and gave themselves a legitimate opportunity to pull off the big upset, which is all you can ask for as a Division II school playing on the road against a Division I team.
With the Billikens clinging to that 55-50 lead, they went inside to Willie Reed twice and he delivered two big baskets to help the Billikens hold off Rockhurst down the stretch.
I know many people were expecting a big blowout victory over a Division II school, but I knew better.
As I wrote in my preview, this would be a test of our focus. Especially, coming off a very hard four-game stretch (Iowa State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Southern Illinois), followed up by a week of final exams.
Toss in the fact that it is still a young team that has to face a motivated Division II team that has nothing to lose. Shake well and voila, you have yourself a two possession game with five minutes left.
Anyway, it's still better to learn those valuable lessons after a victory than in a humbling loss.
Kwamain Mitchell led the way with 17 points while Willie put up another double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Christian Salecich contributed 11 points and helped do a nice defensive job of Rockhurst's Hill, who is averaging 20 points a game. Brian Conklin had six points and seven rebounds. He got a few more touches inside and delivered a couple of big hoops in the second half. I hope Brian gets the ball a little more inside. He was tremendous in Chicago on offense and we'll need his interior play as the season goes along.
Willie grabbed 13 rebounds, but he got some nice help on the boards, especially from guards Femi John and Justin Jordan. Femi grabbed a season-high eight rebounds while the 5'9" Jordan grabbed six rebounds. Brian Conklin grabbed seven rebounds while Jon Smith came off the bench to grab five boards. SLU enjoyed a healthy 48-33 edge on the board.
Once again, our free throw shooting was a sore spot. We shot 11 for 25 for a paltry 44 percent. OMG! At one point in the second half, we were under 40 percent for the game.
We also had 12 turnovers and only seven assists, plus we had a long, dry spell in the second half. Kwamain opened the second half with two consecutive 3-pointers, then we proceeded to miss our next 10 shots.
As a said before, I could see this game coming. Our concentration level wasn't the best, but it's good to still come away with a win. There's still a valuable lesson to learn from this game, but least you didn't have to suffer a humbling loss to learn it.
The home-stand continues on Wednesday night with a visit from Belmont. Don't get too alarmed Bills fans. We will be better.
I'll have a preview on Wednesday. Talk to you then.
Go Bills!