The Billikids used a hot-shooting start and their normal stingy defense to defeat Indiana State 63-54 in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) Tournament on Tuesday night at the Chaifetz Arena.

SLU improves its record to 21-11 on the season. They will play either Akron or Wisconsin-Green Bay in the second round next Monday night at either 6 or 8 p.m. The time has yet to be determined, but I do believe that the game will be at home, although it has not been made official.

  If there were any thoughts of the kids being sluggish or un-interested in this game after their unfortunate NIT snub, those fears were put to rest early as they came out with a 17-4 run in the first five minutes of the game.

  Kwamain Mitchell (pictured) opened the game with two 3-pointers, Cody Ellis hit a 17-footer, Kyle Cassity scored on a drive, Christian Salecich hit a 10-footer off the dribble and Willie Reed got things going on the inside. Meanwhile, the half-court defense was ramped up to full speed as the guys forced ISU into tough shots.

  It was the exact kind of start that I was looking for from the Billikids. ISU was short-handed as the Sycamores were playing without top scorer Harry Marshall, who was out with a broken foot. ISU also had not played a game since March 5, when it lost to Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, so there was bound to be some rust after an 11-day layoff.

  By contrast, we played our last game last Friday and we had the motivation of wanting to get the bad taste of that Rhode Island game out of our mouths, not to mention the NIT snub. So, there was a lot of motivation for us to go out there and get after it early.

  I figured once ISU started to figure some things out and get back into a game rhythm, we would have a big enough cushion to hold on for the victory. And that is what happened.

  We led by as many as 19 points in the second half, but we suddenly went cold from the perimeter and ISU responded with an 11-0 run to cut the lead to single digits. Luckily, we built a big enough margin that we were not seriously threatened, but it did get a little dicey there for a moment.

  I wiped my brow once again later that night when I watched the end of the Arizona State-Jacksonville game in the NIT. Arizona State had a 10-point lead in the last two minutes, but frittered it all away as Jacksonville came back and won it on a last-second 3-pointer. The stunned look on the ASU fans in Tempe was incredible. They could not believe what they had just witnessed on their home court.

  I just sat up in my bed and said, “Better them than us.”

  Kwamain and Willie were senstational tonight. Kwamain finished with a game-high 19 points. He had one phenomenal stretch in the second half when he scored eight consecutive, scintillating, breath-taking points. He wowed the crowd with his first dunk of the season. Then, he came back with an indescribable, ankle-breaking, double cross-over move that had his man looking like a log-roller before scoring on an easy lay-up. I was ooohhing and aaaahing the move just as Rammer was describing it live.

  Willie dominated the action in the paint with 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. He is one block away from setting the single-season record. After we hit our first few perimeter shots, we started going inside to Willie and he responded with some nice moves inside. No double-teams ever came and Willie had plenty of room to operate.

  When Willie wasn’t getting his groove on inside, Brian Conklin came in and found the action to his liking as well. He came off the bench to score eight points and grab four rebounds. ISU didn’t have a lot of muscle inside, so Brian was able to work his way for points and offensive rebounds effectively.

  Defensively, we were solid again as we held ISU to 32 percent shooting. Unfortunately, our shooting took a bit of a tumble as we could only hit four of our 22 3-pointers. In the second half, we were also missing 10-footers, mid-range shots and a few layups. I think we have to be a little more consistent in our shooting if we are going to make a deep run in this tournament. The free throw shooting was decent as we hit 13 of our 20 free throws. It was more impressive when you consider that most of the free throws were taken by our bigs. Willie stepped up and hit three of his four free throws, which did my heart good. Brian also hit four of five as well. I still long for the day when we can get into that mid-to-high 70 percent range.

  Finally, I would like to thank all of the fans who showed up last night to support the Billikids. As Coach Majerus said on his post-game show, “These were the true fans who were out here tonight.” Although the crowd wasn’t huge, it got real noisy last night during those first few minutes when the guys were clicking on all cylinders.

  I was very appreciative to see so many of you there. That is why I made it a point to go up in the stands before the game and shake as many hands as I possibly could as a show of thanks for coming out to see these kids and showing them the love for all that they have accomplished this season.

  I pretty much worked my way around the Chaifetz last night and probably shook about 2,000 hands. My legs are a little sore right now, but it was well worth it.

  I hope you all come out again next Monday for the next game and bring a few friends as well.

  See you next week. Go Bills!