Saint Louis Basketball: Freshman Amari McCottry a standout in exhibition win over Rockhurst

One of the more intriguing teams to watch this season is Saint Louis Basketball, which has the chance to go from the bottom of the Atlantic 10 to the top this year. Besides new HC Josh Schertz, multiple key pieces come over from Indiana State, including point guard Isaiah Swope and star big man, Robbie Avila.

While Avila wasn't available for last week's exhibition game against Rockhurst, which seemed to affect them early on. The Bilikens were down at halftime to the D-II program but a quick run to start out the second half gave the home team a lead they wouldn't give back. Saint Louis took complete control en route to an 86-65 victory.

After a slow start, Swope and Gibson Jimerson finished with double-digits, two of five players. Brown transfer Kalu Anya had 12 points and 11 rebounds as the focal point in the frontcourt and should be a good compliment piece next to Avila in the regular season.

The biggest surprise of the game was Amari McCottry, a 6'6 guard/wing freshman from Milwaukee. He's one of three first-year newcomers for Saint Louis and on paper, looked to have an uphill climb to being part of the rotation, due to the many big guards on the roster, including Jimerson, Kobe Johnson and Miami transfer, AJ Casey. Still, McCottry had a big second half in the exhibition to finish with a team-high 16 points on 5/7 shooting, and 5/8 from the FT line.

McCottry's ability to get to the line is a nice contrast to the move proven shooters on the court such as Jimerson and Swope in potential future offensive lineups. We'll see if this is a one-off or the Billikens might have a hidden gem among its freshmen class. If that's the case, then Saint Louis' odds of winning the A-10 will go up a notch.