There weren’t many other options for a long stretch of the season, but the emergence of more scorers and more ways of scoring allowed SLU to get past some rocky moments against La Salle at Chaifetz Arena.

Francis Okoro‘s rebounding and Sincere Parker‘s scoring kept the Billikens in the game early and combined with other contributions vaulted them to an 84-71 win, which was their fifth in a row and good for a share of first place in the Atlantic 10.

“We don’t have success if not for a performance like Francis Okoro,” SLU coach Travis Ford said. “On a night when things aren’t going your way, you have to have someone do something special effort-wise, and he did that. And Sincere came in and played well again. That’s what hopefully is going to help our team. We’ve got a few options off the bench that have been playing better when maybe some guys aren’t playing their best.”

Okoro had 20 rebounds, making him one of 11 players in program history to reach that mark. He grabbed 11 offensive boards and scored most of his 12 points on putbacks.

Parker scored 20 points, making eight of nine shots and continuing a recent stretch of high-percentage shooting after a tough start to his Division I career.

SLU needed players to add contributions and has started to get them to fill the void when others aren’t up to their usual production. Yuri Collins, Gibson Jimerson and Javonte Perkins had two points each at halftime, and the Billikens (14-6 overall, 6-1 in the A-10) were fortunate to have a one-point lead.

Then Okoro and Parker continued their production and got more help in the second half as SLU overcame a six-point deficit.

“That’s what I do,” Okoro said of his rebounding. “Coach talked to me about it. My mindset was that I had to get every rebound. So, I’ve got to keep doing that. I’ve had some games where I had seven, eight offensive rebounds. Coach said, ‘You’ve got to go back to being that guy.’”

Parker had kept SLU afloat in the first half of the previous game at Loyola-Chicago but was used for only a couple of minutes in the second half. His absence was so glaring that Ford said his wife asked why he didn’t get more time in the final 20 minutes.

Against La Salle (8-11, 2-4), Parker started hot and earned more time in the second half. He did most of his damage by penetrating and creating shots, some of which materialized due to his creativity and uncanny ability to finish at the rim.

In the first 14 games after his transfer from a junior college, Parker shot 39% overall and 9% from 3-point range. In the last six games, he has shot 58% overall and made 52% of his 3s.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been a tough transition but it’s taken some getting used to,” he said. “Some nights, it might be me, and some nights someone else. I feel it’s more confidence, seeing the ball go through a little at the next level. You have to be more efficient instead of doing everything yourself.”

Terrence Hargrove Jr. also gave the Billikens a boost in the first half, scoring the team’s first seven points on his way to 11 with seven rebounds.

Others contributed offensively in the second half. Perkins scored seven quick points during a 12-0 run that gave SLU the lead for good. And Collins continued to look for his mid-range shot after missing short on several and scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half to go with his 11 assists.

“The last two games, we haven’t got off to the starts we’d like, but the teams we’ve played came out and played extremely well,” Ford said. “La Salle really controlled the pace on us and played different than we saw on film. We got caught up in their (slow) pace.

“We were able to change gears eventually. Most of the game, I thought offense was a struggle, but you look up and we scored 84 points. Defensively, I thought we were good most of the game.”

After some especially brutal shooting games during nonconference play, the Billikens continued their torrid pace in the A-10. Despite the off-target first half, they finished at 48.4% and are now at 50.6% in conference games.

The Billikens also bounced back from a slow team rebounding start against the Explorers to outrebound them 47-42 thanks to Okoro. They have outrebounded the opponent in six of seven A-10 games.

“At the beginning of the season, we had a lot of different personalities and people from difference places,” Parker said. “Now, we’re starting to gel. One thing we told ourselves at the beginning of the season is we didn’t want to play our best at the start but as the season got deeper and the conference came around.”