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With each game for St. Louis University of late, there have been lessons and growth and progress. And wins.

It’s been a wild two weeks for SLU, which is finally living up to its loftier preseason expectations after spending the nonconference season doing everything it could to tear them down. SLU beat one of the Atlantic 10’s top teams, St. Bonaventure, 73-68 on Wednesday night at Chaifetz Arena in a game that deserved a bigger crowd but couldn’t get one in a city still somewhat paralyzed by Sunday’s snowstorm.

The talent level has increased from opponent to opponent in A-10 play, and SLU has handled them all. Amazingly, just three games into the A-10 season, SLU (10-6, 3-0) is the only unbeaten team left in the league, and while there is still a long way to go, SLU has come a longer way than many would have expected on Christmas, when SLU was 6-6, had lost three in a row and its coach was expressing concerns about how hard it was playing.

On Wednesday, it played its third straight game that felt like it was its best game of the season.

“It feels great obviously,� said guard Gibson Jimerson, who scored 28 points, including four free throws in the final 22 seconds to seal the win. “Coming in, we knew they were a really good team, a really good defensive team. So we were looking forward to it. It was kind of a really good test to see where we’re at, especially coming off two good wins, and we showed up tonight. Obviously they got back into it late. But in any good team like that, they’re going to make those runs. And we responded. That was a really fun game.�

“That’s a really good win, our best win of the season so far,� said SLU coach Josh Schertz. “I think there’s a lot of lessons for us to take from it. A lot of things we did well, to put ourselves up 16 with six minutes to play. I thought there was a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from playing not to lose the last six minutes and almost losing, because we played not to lose. I think that how hard they competed, the way they kept coming, the relentlessness which they competed was, was really impressive. But I thought we found a way across the finish line.�

Jimerson made 6 of 11 3-pointers on his way to 28 points and also had six rebounds, which stood out to Schertz as much as the points. Isaiah Swope had 16 points, and Robbie Avila had 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists (along with five turnovers). SLU shot 49% against St. Bonaventure, the best an opponent had done against the Bonnies (14-2, 2-1) this season and held them to 40.6% shooting

SLU got two big contributions from its bench, which is not something heard much this season. Kellen Thames came on in the first half when Kalu Anya got his third foul and immediately hit a 3 and then drove to the basket and took a no-look pass from Avila for a layup as SLU took the lead for good late in the first half.

He scored only two points in the second half, but they were dramatic, coming on a reverse two-handed dunk off an alley-oop pass from Swope. The play brought the arena to its feet and put SLU up by 10.

But Thames’ cramping soon caught up with him and sent him to the bench for the rest of the game. With Anya, who played only 11 minutes, in foul trouble again in the second half, getting his fourth foul just 68 seconds into the half, Schertz then turned to freshman Dylan Warlick, who had planned on redshirting the season but was pressed into duty when the team’s injury situation became unmanageable in December.

Warlick played 15:14, more than he played against any opponent that wasn’t an NAIA school, and found himself playing key minutes down the stretch. Schertz was thinking of bringing Anya back sooner, but Warlick was doing so well he kept Anya on the bench until there was 5:08 to play.

It took less than a minute for Anya to get his fifth foul, and much to the surprise of Warlick, he went back in the game.

“I didn’t realize Kellen Thames was out,� he said, “so when I kind of came to the bench and then Kalu fouled out. I thought KT was there, but he wasn’t, so I was there to go back in.�

“He definitely did (stay in longer) because he was playing well,� Schertz said. “I was going to bring in Kalu earlier, and then Dylan made a great play, set a great ball screen, got in the seam and threw a kick out to Kobe (Johnson) for a wide-open 3, and Kobe banged the three. And then I sent Kalu back to the bench.�

But Warlick was part of SLU letting St. Bonaventure back in the game.

“Dylan really gave us some good minutes,� Schertz said, “and he had a couple of breakdowns there late. But he’s a freshman. He’s playing that situation for the first time. And Dylan’s a smart kid. He’ll learn, and he’ll be better down the stretch the next time that that opportunity presents itself.�

SLU looked to have the game wrapped up when it went up by 16 points with 6:10 to play, but it instead came down to the wire. SLU lost its aggressiveness as it became more content to avoid fouling and to work the clock, forgoing good scoring chances and allowing St. Bonaventure to get three offensive rebounds in the final 77 seconds, which it turned into five points.

The Bonnies cut the lead to three with 11.3 seconds left. Out of the timeout, with Avila inbounding the ball, SLU lined everyone up on the baseline, as if it was the line of scrimmage, and everyone started to go deep. Jimerson made a quick stop to come back and get the ball, which was what SLU was looking for.

He got the inbound pass and was fouled. He sank both free throws with 8.5 seconds to play to ice the win.

All those will provide lessons for the team, which has barely made a dent in the A-10 schedule.

“There’s going to be a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from that game, a lot of things to learn,� Schertz said. “But it’s a really good win against a team that, I think, is certainly one of the one of the best teams in the A-10. So we come out with a lot of confidence about what we can be if we continue to get better, and we got a lot of room to get better.�

SLU 73, St. Bonaventure 68

ST. BONAVENTURE

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A F Pt

Brown 36 8-11 0-0 3-8 1 4 16

Council 40 5-13 0-0 1-4 6 3 10

Hinton 31 2-8 1-1 1-3 2 3 5

Jones 37 3-14 4-4 0-6 1 0 12

Moore 40 7-16 7-9 4-9 2 3 23

Bolanga 10 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0

Thompson 3 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Wedlow 3 1-1 0-0 2-3 0 0 2

Totals 200 26-64 12-14 11-34 12 14 68

Percentages: FG .406, FT .857.

3-Point Goals: 4-17, .235 (Moore 2-5, Jones 2-7, Council 0-2, Hinton 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 2.

Blocked Shots: 2 (Brown, Council).

Turnovers: 8 (Brown 3, Council 3, Bolanga, Jones).

Steals: 5 (Council, Hinton, Jones, Moore, Thompson).

SLU

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A F Pt

Anya 11 0-0 0-0 1-2 2 5 0

Avila 37 5-9 3-3 0-9 5 3 14

Jimerson 40 9-15 4-4 0-6 0 1 28

Johnson 36 2-5 0-0 0-2 5 1 6

Swope 39 5-13 3-4 0-1 3 1 16

Warlick 15 1-3 0-0 0-1 3 3 2

Thames 14 3-6 0-2 1-5 0 0 7

McCottry 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Brockhoff 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Totals 200 25-51 10-13 2-26 18 15 73

Percentages: FG .490, FT .769.

3-Point Goals: 13-33, .394 (Jimerson 6-11, Swope 3-10, Johnson 2-4, Thames 1-2, Avila 1-5, Warlick 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: 1.

Blocked Shots: 3 (Avila 2, Thames).

Turnovers: 10 (Avila 5, Thames 2, Anya, Brockhoff, Swope).

Steals: 5 (Swope 2, Avila, Johnson, Thames).

St. Bonaventure 28 40 — 68

Saint Louis 34 39 — 73