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Getting a boost from the bench and its free throw shooting? That’s not quite as routine.

Staring a lost week in Virginia in the face, St. Louis University righted itself in the closing minute and beat Richmond 63-59 by making all six of its free throws in the final minute and getting maybe the best game by its bench so far this season, combining for nine points and 10 rebounds in 32 total minutes of playing time.

“I think our bench, the more we get in, the better we will do,� said freshman Dylan Warlick, whose two free throws with 21.3 seconds left, including a pressure-packed front end of a one-and-one, extended SLU’s lead to three points. “And today showed that.�

Avila had a team-high 24 points, nine rebounds and hit two free throws with 4.2 seconds left to clinch the win. (Isaiah Swope had the other two rebounds in the final minute.) Avila scored on back-to-back possessions 46 seconds apart inside the final two minutes to put SLU in the lead after it had fallen behind by seven points.

“It's about being able to execute and exploit mismatches,� SLU coach Josh Schertz said. “That's one thing Rob's great at. If you put a small on him, you can post him. If you put a bigger guy on him, he puts him in quandaries with his ability to pick and pop and drive close outs and shoot 3s and gravity. But it's not so much just the scoring. You want guys in that stretch with the ball in their hands that can make the right read and then attack with a defense gives you and Rob did a really good job of that. … The last five minutes of a close game, I care who has the ball and who's getting the shots. And Rob does a great job of understanding when it's him, and then if he does draw help, he's such a willing passer and a smart player that he's going to generate a shot for a teammate.�

It was a good reversal after SLU got clobbered by VCU on Tuesday about five miles to the east, though the similarities between Richmond and VCU end at their mailing addresses. SLU (11-7, 4-1) remains near the top of the A-10 men's basketball standings, half a game behind first place George Mason.

“I thought we had a growth today,� said Schertz. “I think we're a better basketball team than the one that stepped on the plane to go to Virginia. It feels like that was a month ago, we should have residency in Richmond, but we're a better basketball team stepping back on this plane to head home.�

What won the game for SLU was a 10-0 run after it had fallen behind 56-49 with 4:43 to play. SLU got seven straight defensive stops, which bought time for its offense to chip away at Richmond’s lead.

“I think the biggest thing starts on the defensive side,� Avila said. “I think that's really kind of what gets the runs going. Coach Schertz always says you win games on stops and those type of scenarios. I think that fueled our offense. We really didn't change anything offensively. We were doing the same things. I think the energy flips when we're getting stops like that. And so we were able to make big plays.�

SLU had cut the Richmond lead to three points and then turned the ball over on consecutive possessions, first with Swope’s lob to Avila down low going way over his head and then with Avila trying a no-look pass to Kalu Anya that was stolen. The next time SLU got the ball, with 1:35 to play, Schertz called timeout.

“He actually called it,� Avila said, “I think because we went to go run a play, and I think Gib (Jimerson) forgot what we were doing, so he was kind of just standing there, so we couldn't get to the action. But I'd like to think that did slow us down, kind of settled us in, because now we were able to kind of execute very well into the last two minutes. And I think that's what helped us get the win.�

Avila laid in a pass from Jimerson to cut the lead to one and then made a two-footer with 47 seconds left to put SLU back in the lead. Richmond turned the ball over when a player stepped on the sideline on an out-of-bounds play coming out of a time out, giving SLU the ball back.

On the inbound play, Swope eluded Richmond’s pressure and got the ball to Warlick alone under the basket. Warlick — who had subbed in so Kalu Anya, the team's worst foul shooter, could come out — didn’t shoot and instead got fouled and, after a long wait while the officials checked the clock, the freshman playing just his ninth collegiate game knocked down both ends of a one-and-one with 21.3 seconds to play.

“I was definitely gonna go up and pass it immediately,� Warlick said, “but kind of waited. I wasn't sure if I should go, but there was a guy behind me. So then I was looking for Gib immediately, but he ended up fouling me.

“Wasn't much going through my head, really, just hoping I make them. … I was definitely nervous. But once I got up to line and went through it, nothing but net on it.�

SLU is one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the A-10 and at that point in the game was nine of 16 from the line, including two misses by Jimerson. But Schertz said he was so confident in his freshman that he was diagramming a defensive plan to protect a three-point lead.

“I would have liked Swope to throw the ball sooner, and Dylan to lay it in faster,� Schertz said. “But the clutch free throw shooting was awesome. And to see a freshman up there who hasn't been that situation … Dylan didn't win two (Oklahoma) state championships by accident. He's a tough-minded kid. He's a winner.

“I thought our bench today, in general, was the best it's been. I thought Kilian (Brockhoff) gave us really good minutes. We extended the lead when we got Robbie a quick break there in the second half. He made a great pass, got a rebound, did some really good things. I thought Amari (McCottry) off the bench was good (with four rebounds). Dylan off the bench was good. Kellen (Thames’) minutes were good. I thought everybody that touched the game did good things. Our free throw shooting down the stretch was obviously massive, none bigger than Dylan's two.�