AMHERST, Mass. - It took some last minute heroics from Gary Forbes (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and James Life (Fort Myers, Fla.), but UMass was able to withstand Saint Louis 53-50 on Saturday night in front of a near sellout crowd of 9,088. Life nailed a three-pointer and hit two free throws and Forbes iced the game stealing the ball away from Billikens guard Tommie Liddell with 6.5 seconds remaining and then hitting two more free throws to give the final score.

UMass improves to 21-7 overall and 11-3 in the Atlantic 10, while Saint Louis drops to 17-11 overall and 7-7 in the league. UMass remains tied with Xavier for first-place in the conference standings after the Musketeers defeated Dayton earlier Saturday.

After a sluggish first half, UMass went on an 11-to-4 run early in the second half to go up 33-26. The Billikens fought back and a pair of consecutive three-pointers from Luke Meyer and Kevin Lisch cut the lead to two points, 39-37 with 10:27 remaining.

Despite a foot injury that kept him out of practice the past week, Saint Louis' leading scorer Liddell played in the game and his fast break lay-up with 2:13 to go gave the Billikens a 47-46 lead.

However, a Liddell turnover on the next SLU possession, one of 18 on the night for the Billikens, gave UMass the ball and Forbes found an open Life who drained a 28-foot trey from just behind the left arc.

SLU bigman Ian Vouyoukas kept Saint Louis in the game with turn-around hook shot on the next possession that drew the fifth foul on senior Rashaun Freeman with 25.9 seconds left to tie the game at 49 each. The 6-foot, 10 inch, 270 pound Vouyoukas hit the free throw despite the UMass timeout to freeze him.

Two more free throws by Life gave UMass the lead once again before Forbes stole the ball from Liddell with 6.5 seconds remaining just past half court. Forbes drove straight to the basket but was fouled on the way up and missed the lay-in with 1.9 seconds to go. The only UMass player to finish the night in double-figures, Forbes converted both free throws and Dante Milligan (New York, N.Y.) stole the SLU inbounds pass to seal the game.

Forbes finished with a team-high 13 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Stephane Lasme had nine points and nine rebounds, whie Chris Lowe (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) also added nine points.

Vouyoukas led the Billikens with a game-high 18 points, while Lisch scored 10.

UMass committed a season-low nine turnovers on the night while forcing 18 from Saint Louis.

The Minutemen close out their 2006-07 home schedule this Wednesday night when they host La Salle at 7 p.m. Prior to that game UMass will honor its 2007 senior class.