St. Louis was running on “E.” And that was a good thing.
Dwayne Evans and Cody Ellis were the only two Billikens to score in double figures but they were all St. Louis needed to down Butler 67-56 in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament at Barclays Center on Saturday afternoon.
It was St. Louis’ third win over Butler this season.
“Being able to beat [Butler] a couple of times this year, that was certainly a big accomplishment for [the players],” St. Louis head coach Jim Crews said. “Dwayne was really good inside, guys got him the ball and Cody had a great game.”
Evans scored 13 of 14 Billikens points during a 6:27 span in the second half to help St. Louis pull away from Butler for good and beat the Bulldogs for the third time this season. Evans has scored 49 points on 15-of-19 shooting in the Billikens (26-6) two tournament games.
“They played a lot of zone early on, but when they switched to man I tried to maximize the size advantage or matchup advantage I had inside,” Evans said. “Guys were hitting threes so they couldn’t sag on us.”
While Evans was seemingly unstoppable inside, Ellis, a native of Australia, provided the thunder from down under hitting four 3-pointers.
“Yeah, definitely, [my shot felt good],” Ellis said. “It’s been a struggle the past couple of games, but I have a shooter’s mentality, that the next one is going in.”
Evans and Ellis both subbed out for good with 1:13 to play in the game.
The St. Louis defense forced Butler into uncharacteristically sloppy play. The Bulldogs (26-8) committed 20 turnovers leading to 26 Billikens points. St. Louis guards Jordair Jett, Kwamain Mitchell and Mike McCall hounded Rotnei Clarke (16 points) and Kellen Dunham all afternoon.
“Those guys play in a way that if you give them an inch, if you relax for a second, you’re getting drilled by those guys,” Crews said. “They shoot threes like guys shoot layups if you give them space.”
One night after shutting down all-conference player Ramon Galloway, Butler forward Roosevelt Jones provided the defensive play of the tournament thus far.
After a Bulldogs turnover, Kwamian Mitchell looked to have a clear lane for a layup before Jones did his best LeBron James impression, chasing down Mitchell and pinning his shot against the backboard.
“I was just trying to get back because I made a turnover,” Jones said. “I just wanted to try and help my team out by getting the block down.”
Jones was still beat down low continually by Evans.
“[Evans] is probably the most physical player I have ever played against in my life,” Jones said. “He probably should have been Conference Player of the Year in my opinion”
While the Billikens may have Butler’s number, Bulldogs head coach Brad Stevens believes that St. Louis could be one of the best teams in the country, not just against his squad.
“I think [St. Louis] really showed themselves great in this tournament,” Stevens said. “I have said all year how good they are. They are a legitimate contender for the whole thing and I believe that wholeheartedly.”
Playing its third game in three days could have been a factor in Butler’s lackluster performance.
“That’s why you try and get the bye,” Stevens said. “The third game in three days against a team that physical, you have to have some stuff to do that for 40 minutes.”
St. Louis will play the winner of UMass-VCU and attempt to make it an A-10 sweep after winning the conference’s regular season title.
“We pretty excited about trying to win a championship in New York,” Crews said.
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com