CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Mike McCall Jr. tied a career high with 19 points and Saint Louis held off a late charge from Southern Illinois on Saturday night to hang on 76-67.

Dwayne Evans scored eight points as a part of a 10-3 Saint Louis run to lead 72-64 lead with 1:25 to go.

Saint Louis (3-0) never trailed in the second half and had its largest lead of the game at 57-47 with 10:45 left in the game. The Billikens won back-to-back nonconference road games for the first time since 1997-98.

Southern Illinois (0-2) cut the lead to 57-55 with an 8-0 run over the next 2 minutes. A layup by Desmar Jackson later brought the Salukis to within 62-61.

Evans finished with 13 points, 12 of which came in the final 8 minutes of play.

Marcus Fillyaw had 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting for the Salukis.