Feb. 17, 2005

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE - Pat Monaghan scored a season-high 18 points, and John Loeffelholz and Steve Turner came through with clutch second-half performances as Lewis beat Bellarmine 69-65 Thursday night in a crucial Great Lakes Valley Conference men's basketball game.

The win put Lewis (10-14, 5-12), which swept the season series with Bellarmine, in the seventh position in the race to qualify for the eight-team GLVC Tournament. Bellarmine (9-15, 4-13) slipped into a tie for last place with Missouri-St. Louis.

Monaghan scored 12 first-half points including a long 3-pointer with :02 left that gave the Flyers a 31-30 halftime edge. His first trey of the game at the 10:34 mark gave Lewis its largest lead of the half, 20-13, and the Flyers would match that margin by leading 25-18 with 7:07 to play.

Bellarmine went on a 12-3 run to gain a 30-28 lead with just under a minute to play. The Knights missed a chance to increase their advantage before Monaghan netted his buzzer-beater from NBA 3-point range, one of seven Lewis treys (7 of 13) in the opening period.

The visitors scored the first six points of the second half before Lewis got on the board with two Turner free throws at 16:37. The freebies were part of Turner's 7-of-8 effort at the stripe in the second half, as the senior scored all nine of his points after intermission.

Then Loeffelholz, who scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, got into the act with a pair of baskets, cutting the Bellarmine lead to one point on both occasions.

The Knights pulled ahead by five points again soon after. But a layup by Randy Wright, a Loeffelholz free throw and a Loeffelholz fast-break dunk off a Turner steal created a 44-all deadlock, the first of eight second-half stalemates, with 12:12 remaining.

A Calvin Fowler 3-pointer gave Bellarmine a 62-60 lead with 2:36 to play, but that was the last meaningful basket the Knights would score.

Turner made one of two at the line, then gave the Flyers the lead for good, 63-62, with two free throws at 1:24. The Knights twice missed a chance to regain the lead, and after the second squandered opportunity, Bellarmine head coach Chris Pullem was whistled for two technical fouls and ejected.

Monaghan sank two of the four technical-foul shots to put Lewis up 65-62, then made two more at the line with :16 left. Anthony Scala rebounded Marcus Flynn's missed 3-point attempt and converted two free throws seconds later, making Flynn's 3-pointer with :02 left meaningless.

Scala joined Monaghan and Loeffelholz in double figures with 13 points. Loeffelholz had a team-high five rebounds, Wright had four assists and four steals, and DeAndre Williams contributed five assists and four rebounds.

Flynn led all players with 23 points and added eight rebounds and four assists. Matt Miller scored 12 points, Nate Sexton collected 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, Fowler scored 10 points and Montonio Blake grabbed six rebounds.

For a second time this season, the Flyers overcame a double-digit rebounding deficit to beat Bellarmine. The Knights posted a 36-24 rebounding edge Thursday and a 42-29 advantage in Lewis' 93-87 win in Louisville Jan. 22.

The Flyers outscored Bellarmine 19-11 at the foul line and committed just 11 turnovers in beating the Knights for a ninth consecutive time and 15th time in 16 meetings.

Lewis concludes its 2004-05 home schedule Saturday with a 3 p.m. game against Northern Kentucky.