ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — St. Louis University center Robbie Avila, the centerpiece of new coach Josh Schertz’s offense, sprained his right ankle, for the second time in about a month, and left the court late in the second half in SLU’s 85-78 loss to Santa Clara at the Sanford Pentagon on Monday.

Avila was going to the basket after making a pass and looked to have just landed wrong on his right ankle. Avila had missed 3½ weeks during the preseason after suffering a sprain to the same ankle in a scrimmage. On Monday, he was helped off the court, putting no weight on his right foot as he headed for the dressing room.

"It doesn't look great," said Schertz. "We'll bet back and get him evaluated, but it seems pretty similar to the first time, same ankle, same situation. He's obviously pretty distressed. It's been a tough fall for him. He's missed a chunk of time with his back, got back, and then sprained the ankle and was really playig well. ... Your heart breaks for him because he loves to play basketball, he's all about the right things. Just a fluke play under the basket. We'll get back, get him evaluated and go from there. ... There's a chance we'll be without him for a period of time. We've got a lot of games to play and we got to figure it out without him until he's back."

Avila returned to the bench for the final minutes of the game but with his shoe off and an ice bag taped to his right ankle.

The injury put a somber note to the dawn of a new era of SLU basketball, highlighted by Schertz and Avila, who had success at Indiana State.

Gibson Jimerson made a 3-pointer on the play where Avila got hurt to cut Santa Clara’s lead to four, and SLU was down by three with two minutes to play. SLU had two chances to get even and couldn’t and almost had a third chance after another Santa Clara miss, but after Kellen Thames grabbed the rebound, Christoph Tilly of Santa Clara reached in to force a held ball and the possession arrow went to Santa Clara. That allowed the Broncos to take more time off the clock and eventually make two free throws with 19.4 seconds to go up by five.

SLU set up an inbound play but instead committed a turnover, giving the ball back to Santa Clara with 11 seconds left.

Avila had 16 points, five assists and five rebounds, and the team’s other Indiana State transfer, Isaiah Swope, came alive in the second half and finished with 24 points and five assists before fouling out in the final game’s final minute.

SLU got within one early in the second half as Swope hit some 3-pointers and had two chances to take the lead but couldn’t take advantage of them, and Santa Clara gradually opened its lead up to 12 with 6:11 to play.

Thames and Gibson Jimerson each had 16 points and SLU got no points from its bench, with Larry Hughes the only non-starter to play in the second half. He was 0 for 5 from the field, with four of his misses from 3-point range.

SLU was without guard Kobe Johnson, a transfer from West Virginia, who had started both exhibition games. Johnson hurt his shoulder in practice on Saturday prior to the team traveling to South Dakota and was still questionable on Monday morning, so it doesn’t seem to be a long-term problem. Thames, who started SLU’s first exhibition game, started in his place.

SLU trailed by as many as nine in the first half and led by as many as five as the Billikens took a while to get their offense in shape and cut down on turnovers and start hitting 3-pointers. But it went into the half down seven after a rough final minute. With the scored tied at 41-41, Adama Bal hit a 3, and with 32 seconds to go, Kalu Anya drove to the basket, thought he was fouled and hung on to the rim to keep from hitting the court hard.

But there was no foul, and he hung on to the rim a bit too long for the referees’ taste — he even tried to grab a rebound while hanging on — and was called for a technical. Bal made the free throw and then, keeping the ball, Tyeree Bryan made his only shot of the half, a corner 3 with five seconds to go and a tight game was less so.

Thames was unlikely scoring leader in the half for SLU with 12, and Avila and Jimerson each had nine. SLU made only 4 of 13 from beyond the arch in the first half.