Dec. 30, 2003

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Lewis went on a 13-2 run in the final 2:50 of the first half and cruised to a 100-56 victory over Trinity Christian Tuesday in the Flyers' final non-conference game of the season.

Lewis, ranked No. 25 in this week's Division II Bulletin national poll, improved to 10-1 with its ninth consecutive win. Trinity Christian, a member of the NAIA and the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, fell to 3-11.

The victory was the 200th at Lewis for head coach Jim Whitesell. Now in his 12th season at the Flyer helm, Whitesell owns a 200-120 mark (.625) that includes a 58-16 slate (.784) since the beginning of the 2001-02 campaign.

Leading 31-23 in the waning moments of the opening stanza, the Flyers made five of their final six shots and raced to a 44-25 halftime cushion. The outburst included three 3-point baskets, two by Demitrius Hunter (Silvis, Ill./United Township).

Lewis' cold shooting from both the field and the foul line early in the game allowed Trinity Christian to stay close. The Trolls trailed just 21-18 with 7:06 to play before the Flyers rallied with a Sidney Holmes (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) layup, an Austin Real (Aurora, Ill./Aurora West) 3-pointer and Hunter's fast-break layup on consecutive possessions to post their first double-digit lead, 28-18, at 5:25.

Lewis led by as many as 49 points in the second half before settling for its largest winning margin of the season. The 100-point effort was the Flyers' second of the season following a 104-73 triumph over Saint Joseph's Dec. 1.

Monta McGhee (Chicago, Ill./Robeson) led all players with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Real, whose 3-of-4 performance from 3-point range lifted him to 10-of-14 from beyond the arc in his last five games, finished with 16 points, six rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocked shots.

Hunter was 3-of-5 from 3-point distance and scored 15 points and Randy Wright (Thomasboro, Ill./Rantoul) scored 10 points. Sarunas Skadas (Lemont, Ill./Lemont) tied his career high with eight points, DeAndre Williams (Chicago, Ill./St. Francis de Sales) contributed five assists and tied his career high with four rebounds, and Sidney Holmes (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) grabbed five rebounds.

Ty DeWitte had 15 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots for Trinity Christian, which suffered 31 turnovers. Aaron Adams led the Trolls with seven rebounds, with Jeremy LeFebre and Kevin Vander Wal adding six and five boards, respectively. Steve Vander Ploeg collected five assists and Charles Commeret had four assists.

Lewis posted season highs of 22 offensive rebounds and 17 steals and tied its season high of 11 three-point baskets (11-of-23, 47.8 percent). The Flyers held Trinity Christian to 19-of-50 shooting (38 percent) from the floor and, in limiting the Trolls to 56 points, held an opponent to fewer than 60 points for a third time in four games.

The Flyers resume Great Lakes Valley Conference play Friday at Southern Indiana, the top-ranked team in NCAA Division II. Lewis, USI and Indianapolis share the GLVC lead at 4-0.