Nov. 16, 2005

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE - Stephan Bolt and Pat Monaghan combined for 44 points and 17 rebounds, and Lewis slowly but surely pulled away from a pesky Trinity Christian team to post a season-opening 76-64 victory Wednesday night at Neil Carey Arena.

Bolt tallied 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, while Monaghan collected 20 points, including 16 in the second half, and eight boards. Dustin Warfield added 11 points for the Flyers, while Branden Hunter and Kendall Patterson chipped in five and four assists, respectively.

Chad Cox scored 18 points to lead Trinity Christian (2-3), which won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference title and reached the NAIA national tournament a year ago. Ty DeWitte registered 12 points and 12 rebounds, Ross Stuursma scored 12 points and Lawrence Weller tacked on 11 points and six rebounds.

Lewis scored the game's first eight points -- including six by Patterson -- and led 13-2, but a 22-4 Trinity Christian run gave the visitors a 24-17 lead with 6:17 left in the first half.

After a 9-2 Flyer spurt knotted the game at 26, the Trolls regained the lead on a Cox 3-pointer and took a 33-30 advantage to the locker room.

There were five lead changes and two ties early in the second half. Although two Monaghan free throws at the 14:17 mark gave Lewis the lead for good at 44-43, the Flyers were not able to pull away until the latter stages of the contest.

A 9-0 Lewis run put the Flyers up 62-52 with 5:25 left. Trinity Christian managed to whittle the Lewis lead to 66-60 with 3:09 remaining, but Bolt's conventional 3-point play and Monaghan's basket following a Bolt steal put the Flyers in firm control.

Led by Monaghan's 5-of-6 effort, Lewis shot 61 percent from the floor in the second half to finish at 48 percent. The Flyers earned a big advantage at the foul line, converting 22-of-34 to Trinity Christian's 11-of-16, and committed just seven turnovers while forcing 14 TCC miscues.

Lewis hosts Lake Superior State Friday and Michigan Tech Saturday in the GLVC-GLIAC Challenge. Both games tip off at 7:30 p.m.