Smith with 17 points as Evansville beats Canisius 65-58

Dec 9, 2017, 04:21 pm

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Dru Smith scored 17 points with six assists to lead Evansville as it beat Canisius 65-58 on Saturday.

Smith was 4 of 8 from the floor and was 8 of 9 from the free-throw line for the Purple Aces (8-2) who have won three straight. Blake Simmons added 12 points and four assists and Dainius Chatkevicius led the team with nine rebounds in addition to his seven points.

The team averaged 51 percent shooting from the floor compared to 38 percent for Canisius.

The Purple Aces surged 15-5 midway through the first half to take a 21-12 lead with 6:11 to go and they were up 31-23 at the break.

Smith opened the second half with a 3-pointer and Chatkevicius followed with a dunk and Simmons a layup to stretch it to 38-23. Canisius trailed throughout the period but pulled to 59-57 on a Jermaine Crumpton 3-pointer with just under a minute left.

Crumpton scored 14 points with nine rebounds for the Golden Griffins (4-6).