Ian Vouyoukas scored a career-high 27 points to lead Saint Louis University over Rhode Island 73-62 at the Savvis Center. However, he scored the majority of his points in a fashion not commonly associated with big men—Vouyoukas made 17-of-18 free throws. He also hit 5-of-7 shots from the floor, to go with his team-high 10 rebounds on Wednesday.
Vouyoukas’ efforts were flanked by freshman Kevin Lisch, who scored 14 and senior Anthony Drejaj, who added 10. Freshman Tommie Liddell had seven points nine rebounds and four assists.
Defense allowed the Billikens to get some separation after taking a 32-31 lead into the locker room at half time. In the second half, they held the Rams to 9-of-27 shooting and kept URI to a 38.6 percent clip for the game.
SLU led by 12 with 8:50 to go in the second half, but URI was able to cut that lead to three points, when a jumper by Dawan Robinson knocked the Billikens advantage down to 60-57 with 2:48 remaining. SLU responded with a 7-0 run that consisted of two free throws from Vouyoukas, a three pointer from Lisch and two more free throws from Lisch.
With the win, SLU improved to 15-10 on the season and 9-4 in the Atlantic 10. They are in third place in the A-10 with a half game lead over LaSalle. URI dropped to 12-12 on the season and 6-7 in conference play. SLU travels to Charlotte on Saturday.