Bess pours in career-high 24 as St. Louis tops Oregon State

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Javon Bess scored a career-high 24 points and Fred Thatch added 16 points in his first start to help St. Louis to a 65-61 win over Oregon State on Sunday.

Carte’Are Gordon added 11 points for the Billikens (7-2)

Ethan Thompson paced Oregon State (6-2) with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Tres Tinkle added 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Bess was coming off a career-worst 1-for-10 shooting performance in a 61-56 loss at Southern Illinois on Wednesday. Bess sank a pair of 3-pointers in the final 1:01 of the first half to help his team to a 33-29 lead at the break. Thatch sank a 3-pointer with 2:29 left to put his team in front to stay 60-56 as Saint Louis closed the game on a 15-8 run.

Oregon State rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to take a 53-50 lead on a layup by Stephen Thompson, Jr. But Saint Louis responded with seven unanswered points.

BIG PICTURE

Oregon State: The Beavers will play four successive home games before opening conference play on Jan. 5 at Oregon. Stephen Thompson needs two points to reach 1,400 for his career and move into the top ten on the school’s all-time scoring list. Gligorije Rakocevic remains out with a stress fracture in his left foot. He will miss at least the next four weeks.

Saint Louis: The Billikens are picked to win the Atlantic 10 Conference by a vote of coaches and media. They garnered 15 of 26 first-place votes. Second-leading scorer Tramaine Isabell missed the game with a leg injury suffered in Wednesday’s 61-56 loss at Southern Illinois.

BAD START BETTER FINISH

Saint Louis missed its first seven shots.

UP NEXT:

Oregon State: Host Texas A&M on Saturday.

Saint Louis: Will play at Houston on Sunday.

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