St. Louis 58, Rhode Island 53

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) -- Kevin Lisch had 18 points and

Anthony Drejaj had 14 as Saint Louis won two in a row for the first

time since last season with a 58-53 win over Rhode Island on

Wednesday night.

Saint Louis (11-9, 5-3 Atlantic 10), led the entire first half

and held its biggest lead 36-23 when Danny Brown made a 3-pointer

with one second left.

Saint Louis built its second half lead to as much as 15 and was

ahead 57-47 with 4:46 to play after Lisch hit a pair of free

throws.

Rhode Island (11-8, 5-3) pulled within 57-53 on Will Daniels'

basket with 1:26 to play. Rhode Island trailed by four and had the

ball, but Jimmy Baron missed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left.

Daniels and Terrence Mack each had 13 for Rhode Island.

Lisch also guarded Rhode Island's leading scorer, Dawan

Robinson, for most of the game, holding him to just seven points in

38 minutes. Robinson came into the game averaging 15.6 per game.

Saint Louis, which defeated Fordham 64-54 on Saturday, had not

had a back-to-back win in its last 21 games.