GAME NOTES: The Saint Louis Billikens have fallen on hard times of late, and they will try once again to right the ship when they host Duquesne in an Atlantic 10 Conference tussle at Chaifetz Arena.

Duquesne has split its last six contests but is coming off Saturday's 61-60 setback to Rhode Island in a game that was decided in the final seconds. That also wrapped up a stretch that saw the Dukes play six of seven games on their home floor, although they managed only three wins in that span.

Meanwhile, Saint Louis has lost four straight to fall to .500 on the season. The Billikens traveled to new league foe Davidson over the weekend and simply got manhandled, 89-54.

SLU leads the head-to-head series, 10-8, although Duquesne snapped a five-game slide against the Billikens with a 71-64 victory last February in Saint Louis.

The Dukes let one slip away against Rhode Island on Saturday, considering they led by as many as 13 with 16:22 to play. In fact, they led from about the midway point of the first half until Rams guard E.C. Matthews hit a 3-pointer with 1:14 to play in regulation. URI would later take the lead for good on a pair of free throws with eight seconds remaining. Micah Mason finished with a game-high 18 points in the loss, while Derrick Colter scored 15 points and Dominique McKoy finished with 10.

Colter, who shot 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, ranks second in the nation in 3- point shooting percentage (.552, 37-of-67) and is averaging a team-best 12.7 points per game. Mason (10.6 ppg) is shooting at a 42-percent clip from the perimeter (36-of-86) and is also averaging double figures along with reserve Jordan Stevens (10.0 ppg).

Leading the way for Saint Louis is freshman forward Milik Yarbrough, a 56- percent shooter from the floor who is averaging 10.8 points and 4.9 boards per tilt. Yarbrough is the current A-10 Rookie of the Week after averaging 22.0 points in a pair of games last week, including a career-high 26 points on 11- of-18 shooting from the field against George Washington last Tuesday. His 21.0 ppg through three conference games is tops overall in the A-10.

Yarbrough led the Billikens in scoring for the third straight game with his 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting against Davidson. Freshman guard Davell Roby also reached double figures for a second straight game with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting. However, SLU shot just 3-of-19 from 3-point range for the game (.158), while the Wildcats were 12-of-22 (.545) from distance and shot 55.2 percent from the floor. The Rams never led, and they were outrebounded by a 40-28 margin for the game.

Neither of these teams is playing a particularly inspiring brand of basketball at the moment. The Billikens figure to get a boost playing at home, but they cannot let Colter and Mason roam free along the perimeter and expect to win.