Nov. 17, 2006

Box Score

HOUGHTON, Mich. - Jason Genova (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick)'s 3-pointer with 3 seconds left gave the Lewis University men's basketball team a hard-fought 75-72 season-opening victory over Lake Superior State Friday afternoon.

Genova's trey, his fourth of the game (4-of-10), came just moments after Andrew Kearney made two game-tying free throws to cap a 12-4 Lake Superior State run.

Lewis carried a 38-31 lead into intermission on the strength of a 12-3 run over the last 4:15 of the first half. Dustin Warfield ignited the outburst with two layups, Genova followed with a pair of 3-pointers and Matthew Marino scored the final bucket.

Lake Superior State reeled off the first eight points of the second half to take a 39-38 edge with 16:47 to play. Seven lead changes followed in the next seven minutes, the final one occurring on Brandon Dagans (Harvey, Ill./Thornton)' steal and layup that pushed Lewis on top 54-53.

The Flyers gradually pulled away and led 68-60 at the 3:34 mark. That's when the Lakers, sparked by two Kearney 3-pointers, began their game-ending run that set up Genova's heroics.

Lewis, which connected on 44 percent of its 3-point attempts (8-of-18), misfired on its first four long-range tries of the game and trailed 12-6.

But a Marino 3-pointer broke the ice and was followed by one from Genova and two from Warfield. Dagans punctuated the 14-0 spurt with a steal and layup for a 20-12 Flyer cushion at the 9:42 mark.

LSSU scored 13 of the next 17 points to regain the lead, only to see Lewis punch back with its 12-3 flurry to end the half.

Genova topped the Flyer scoring chart with 22 points and added 5 rebounds. Warfield, who enjoyed a perfect shooting performance (6-of-6 from the floor, 3-of-3 at the foul line), scored 17 points, grabbed a game-high and career-best 9 boards and tied for team-high honors with 4 assists, tying his career high.

Stephan Bolt tallied 15 points, 8 rebounds (5 offensive) and a game-high and career-best 4 steals, Marino scored 10 points and Dagans contributed 9 points and 4 assists while tying his career high of 3 steals.

Ryan Kuhl paced Lake Superior State with 22 points and 8 rebounds. Mike Rader scored 17 points and Kearney finished with 15.

The Flyers outrebounded the Lakers 33-26 and shot 52 percent from the floor to Lake Superior State's 46 percent.

Lewis remains in Houghton to take on home team Michigan Tech Saturday night.