Smith, who had set his previous career-high with 27 points in a victory in Maine on March 6th, shot 11-14 from the field, 6-7 from behind the arc, and buried 5-6 free throws in 31 minutes. Lance Hurdle, whom the Armor acquired on Feb. 28th, added 28 points on 10-14 shooting (6-10 from three), which amounted to his highest point total since joining the Armor.
The Mad Ants charged out to a 27-19 lead after one quarter, but the Armor put together a stellar second quarter in which they outscored the Mad Ants 31-20 to take a slim 50-47 halftime lead.
In the second half, the two teams traded leads frequently, but by the final buzzer, the Mad Ants had managed to hold one for the one-point victory. The game featured 16 lead changes and 12 ties.
For the Mad Ants, Darnell Lazare scored a team-high 28 points and added 7 rebounds and 4 steals on the evening. Chris Kramer tallied 20 points, 7 boards, and 8 assists, Marvin Phillips chipped in 20 points off the bench, and Ron Howard notched 13 points and 5 rebounds in the winning effort.
The Mad Ants were out-rebounded 41-37 and shot a lower percentage than the Armor (48.7% to the Armor’s 51.9%), but Fort Wayne connected on 28-38 free throws, as opposed to the Armor, who shot just 9-11 from the charity stripe.
In addition to Smith and Hurdle, Chas McFarland contributed 14 points and 8 rebounds and newly assigned guard Ben Uzoh scored 7 points, snared 8 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists.
