Thames leads second-half rally, No. 18 Saint Louis beats VCU 88-75 as benches empty

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kellen Thames scored 16 points and No. 18 Saint Louis rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half for an 88-75 win over VCU on Friday night in a game in which both benches emptied in the final seconds.

A St. Louis player was dribbling out the final seconds near center court when, with just over three seconds remaining, VCU's Nyk Lewis stole the ball from behind and threw up a 3-point shot from halfcourt before being bumped into the broadcast table by the Billikens’ Robbie Avila. That prompted members of both teams to charge off their benches and set off a scrum on the court with 1.1 seconds left.

Staff from both teams rushed to break up the scuffle, and officials disqualified VCU’s Barry Evans and Saint Louis’ Quentin Jones, along with nearly all bench players from both teams.

The teams returned to the court and Lewis converted three free throws before time expired.

Amari McCottry, Avila and Ishan Sharma added 13 points apiece for Saint Louis (25-2, 13-1 Atlantic 10), which bounced back after suffering its first conference loss on Tuesday at Rhode Island. The Billikens have won 20 straight at Chaifetz Arena and have a two-game lead in the conference and the head-to-head tiebreaker over VCU (21-7, 12-3) with two weeks left in the regular season.

Lazar Djokovic scored 19 points and Brandon Jennings contributed 18 for the Rams, who had a 10-game winning streak halted.

The Billikens' reserves turned the game around in the second half, with Thames scoring seven points in a 24-4 surge that erased a nine-point deficit. His second steal and runout layup in that sequence put SLU ahead 66-59 and forced VCU coach Phil Martelli Jr. to spend a timeout to try to stop the momentum.

The Rams still came up empty on their next three possessions as the deficit grew to 70-59 after a Thames free throw, and the lead was never less than seven after that.