By Joe Kay
The Associated Press

One shot has completely changed Saint Louis. Marque Perry's last-second basket beat Louisville last week and started an amazing transformation in a downtrodden team. The Billikens have won three in a row, showing a grit that was previously missing.

A 58-55 victory Tuesday night over Cincinnati left the Billikens (11-12, 5-7 Conference USA) with three straight wins and yet another breakthrough.

"Our guys had very little to be confident about prior to last week," coach Brad Soderberg said. "The Louisville win was the springboard."

Perry, who made a short jump shot with 3 seconds left to beat Louisville, scored 20 points to help Saint Louis get its first win at the Shoemaker Center. The Billikens hadn't won a game in Cincinnati since the 1981-82 season, dropping 12 in a row on the Bearcats' home court.

Leaning upon their newfound confidence, the Billikens got up by 16 points early in the second half, then held on after they went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal.

"I just challenged our guys to play our game," Soderberg said. "Don't be embarrassed that we take our time on offense, that we're not high-flying. Winning with a lower score is better than not winning."

The Billikens were delighted to discuss their turnaround since their 59-58 victory over then-No. 2 Louisville.

"The Louisville game gave us a lot of confidence," said Perry, who has scored at least 20 points in each of the last three games. "We've kept rolling from there. We came out and tried to do the same thing tonight."

The Billikens were only 1-8 away from home all season, losing by an average of 14.4 points on the road.

"Cincinnati has a reputation that it doesn't lose at home," Perry said. "We're glad to come in here and be one of the teams that comes away with a win."