No. 18 Saint Louis Routs Saint Joseph's 70-53
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dwayne Evans had 21 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in perhaps his most complete effort of the season, helping No. 18 Saint Louis run its winning streak to 10 games with a 70-53 victory over Saint Joseph's on Wednesday night.
Rob Loe had 11 points and six rebounds and Mike McCall Jr. contributed 10 points, five assists and four rebounds for the balanced Billikens (22-5, 11-2 Atlantic 10), who held Saint Joseph's (15-11, 6-7) to a season-worst 32.7 percent shooting.
Saint Louis cracked the Top 25 this week for the first time this season after beating a pair of ranked opponents on the road. The Billikens have won by double digits eight times during their winning streak.
Ronald Roberts had a season-best 25 points with three dunks for Saint Joseph's, which has lost four of six.
Carl Jones, the Hawks' leading scorer with a 14.7-point average, missed his first seven shots, including two airballs, and finally got on the board midway through the second half. He finished with three points.
Langston Galloway added 11 points on 2-of-11 shooting for Saint Joseph's, which was just 3 for 17 from 3-point range and has lost seven straight in the series.
Saint Louis outscored Saint Joseph's 21-5 over the first 9½ minutes of the second half to go up 50-32. The Billikens locked down on defense, holding the Hawks to a 2-for-10 start.
Evans leads Saint Louis with averages of 12 points and 6.8 rebounds, and he averaged 15.6 points during the first nine games of the streak. McCall is averaging 14 points over the last three games.
Saint Louis hit its first three 3-pointers and led by 10 after four straight points by Evans made it 27-17 with 4:03 to go, but the Billikens finished the half 1 for 6.
Saint Joseph's shot just 33 percent in the half but was 11 for 13 at the free throw line and outscored Saint Louis 5-0 in the final minute to narrow the gap to two points. Roberts had 12 points with a pair of dunks in the first half, topping his average by a point — four days after he was held to eight points in 16 minutes against George Washington.
The Billikens' depth was tested in the first half with Kwamain Mitchell, Jordair Jett and Cody Ellis each getting called for two fouls.
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