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SAINT LOUIS – Saint Louis opened the game on an 18-3 run as the Billikens beat Eastern Illinois on Wednesday by a 72-45 score.  SLU improved to 7-3 while EIU fell to 3-9 overall.

Cory Remekum scored six of the Billikens first nine points as SLU had balanced scoring on the night.  Mike McCall knocked down a 3-pointer in the opening nine points as he finished with a team high 13 points.

Freshman Alex Austin scored EIU's first bucket with a 3-pointer at 17:44 that cut SLU's early lead to 4-3, that was as close as the Panthers would get.  Austin had his second straight big offensive night scoring 17 points including 10 of EIU's first 12 points.  Austin finished 6-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-3 from 3-point range.

SLU led 37-20 at the half shooting 60 percent in the opening 20 minutes and 57 percent for the game.  EIU shot 43 percent for the game including 50 percent in the second half.

McCall drained back-to-back 3-pointers for SLU to open the second half.  EIU responded with six points of its own on a pair of buckets by Sherman Blanford and one by Cameron Harvey.

SLU took advantage of its size scoring 24 points in the paint compared to 14 points for EIU.  SLU had 22 points off of 14 EIU turnovers.  SLU won the battle on the glass by a 30-19 margin. 

The night marked a return for EIU head coach Jay Spoonhour to a place that his father Charlie Spoonhour was a successful coach.  At halftime of the game former SLU star Larry Hughes was honored with an award as the Donate Life Champion Award.  

“We played this game tonight because Coach Rick Majerus called during the summer and wanted to make this an Organ Donor night and wanted to honor my dad,” said Spoonhour of the game and halftime presentation.  “Some things have changed since then but at half I wanted my team to see Larry Hughes and see what an important thing Organ Donation can be.”

EIU returns to action on Saturday afternoon with a 2 p.m. game at Drake.