By R.B. Fallstrom
The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS - After consecutive road losses to middle-of-the-road Conference USA teams, Saint Louis insiders feared the last-place team might cave in. Instead, the Billikens came up with perhaps the biggest upset of the season, beating No. 2 Louisville 59-58 on Wednesday night to end the nation's longest winning streak at 17.

Marque Perry scored five of his 25 points in the final 13 seconds, and maneuvered inside for the winning 5-footer with 3.2 seconds to go.

Saint Louis fans mobbed the court after Reece Gaines' desperation 3-point attempt banged off the backboard at the buzzer. It's the Billikens' biggest victory since they upset top-ranked Cincinnati in the first round of the 2000 Conference USA tournament.

"Coach talks to us all the time about 'We've got to get one to get us rolling,"' forward Chris Sloan said. "You can't get a bigger one than this."

Gaines had a season-high 28 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Cardinals, who have been beating their opponents by an average of 19 points. That also was the margin of victory in the first meeting between the teams at Louisville (18-2, 8-1 Conference USA) on Jan. 11, a 73-54 victory.

"They played a terrific game and stopped a streak we had a lot of fun with," coach Rick Pitino said. "Now it's time to try and start a new streak."

Saint Louis (9-12, 3-7) stymied Louisville, which is averaging 84 points, with a patient, clock-chewing offense. This was by far the lowest scoring total for the Cardinals, who had no other players in double figures.

Center Marvin Stone, averaging 13 points, was scoreless in 30 minutes.

"We talked about making the pace of the game uncomfortable for Louisville," coach Brad Soderberg said. "I don't know if it was uncomfortable for them, but it was comfortable for us."

Saint Louis entered the game last in C-USA's American Division, and in danger of not even making the conference tournament. The Billikens won despite 34-percent shooting, compensating by forcing 16 turnovers and holding the Cardinals to a virtual rebounding standoff (32-30 Louisville), including a whopping 14 on the offensive end.

Louisville hadn't lost since a two-point setback to Purdue on Nov. 30 in the second game of the season.

"We're not a spectacular team that overpowers anyone," Pitino said. "We've got to stay with what we do well and hope to wear people out."

Chris Sloan and Josh Fisher added 11 points apiece for Saint Louis, which despite its problems has won five of six in the series. Sloan had one of the big plays in the waning minutes with a steal and dunk that cut the gap to 57-54 with 50.8 seconds left, and also hit a 3-pointer at the end of the half.

Gaines' 3-pointer had given Louisville a 57-50 lead with 1:58 to go. But he struggled down the stretch, missing one of two free throws with 24.4 seconds to go and also being called for traveling and missing the front end of a bonus attempt in the final six minutes.

Perry scored on a drive and converted a three-point play with 13.2 seconds left to cut the gap to one. Then he tipped a long inbounds pass intended for Gaines to teammate Anthony Drejaj to set up the game-winner.

"Marque's tough on everyone," Pitino said. "He gets in the lane so well and gets to the rim as good as anyone in the league."

Saint Louis led 26-24 at halftime at Louisville before collapsing. The Billikens were in front at the break of the rematch also, using their usual patient offense to grind out a 30-27 lead, and led by as many as six points in the opening minutes of the second half.

Louisville's start was the best for the school since 1955-56, when the Cardinals began the season 19-1 on the way to a 26-3 record and NIT championship. The school record for consecutive victories is 18 in a row by the 1979-80 NCAA champions.

The Cardinals had won 17 straight games in conference play and had been the only team in the country with one loss.

LOUISVILLE (18-2)-Myles 2-3 3-4 7, Garcia 2-5 0-0 5, Stone 0-2 0-0 0, Dean 2-7 0-0 6, Gaines 9-14 6-8 28, Whitehead 1-1 3-4 5, O'Bannon 1-4 2-4 4, Brown 1-2 0-0 3, Dartez 0-0 0-0 0, Northern 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-39 14-20 58.

SAINT LOUIS (9-12)-Sloan 5-12 0-0 11, Brown 1-6 2-4 4, Fisher 3-7 3-4 11, Perry 10-23 3-3 25, Diener 2-7 0-0 6, Drejaj 0-2 2-2 2, Ohanon 0-3 0-0 0, Braun 0-0 0-0 0, Hunt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-61 10-13 59.

Halftime-Saint Louis 30-27. 3-Point Goals-Louisville 8-18 (Gaines 4-6, Dean 2-6, Garcia 1-1, Brown 1-1, Myles 0-1, O'Bannon 0-3), Saint Louis 7-24 (Fisher 2-3, Perry 2-6, Diener 2-6, Sloan 1-6, Ohanon 0-1, Drejaj 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Louisville 32 (Myles, Stone 7), Saint Louis 30 (Brown 11). Assists-Louisville 15 (Myles 4), Saint Louis 13 (Drejaj 3). Total fouls-Louisville 18, Saint Louis 19. A-11,338.