Dec. 21, 2007

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - After an 18-point first half, junior Brandon Dagans was held to just one field goal in the second. But that lone basket, a driving layup through traffic at the buzzer, allowed Lewis to force overtime and steal an 82-73 victory from Hillsdale College, Friday evening at Neil Carey Arena.

Dagans' buzzer-beater in regulation saved the day for a Flyers' team which had coughed up a 10-point second-half lead. Lewis trailed by three with seven seconds to play when Dagans attempted a desperation 3-pointer. The shot missed, but he was fouled on the play. Dagans made the first free throw, but missed the next two.

Hillsdale's seven-foot center Chris Skaggs recovered the rebound on the second miss and Lewis immediately fouled him. Skaggs missed the one-on-one and Lewis senior Dustin Warfield grabbed the board and fired ahead to Dagans, who eluded three defenders en route to the tricky lay-in.

In the extra session, the Flyers outscored Hillsdale 12-3, getting eight of those points at the foul line - including 6-of-6 at the stripe in the game's final 30 seconds. Warfield was responsible for two of those points, hitting a pair of free throws with 32 seconds to play to put Lewis in the driver's seat with a five-point lead. Dagans added the final four free throws to finish his night with a season high and game high of 28 points.

Propelled by Dagans' big first half, the Flyers carried a six-point lead into period two. The Flyers managed to increase their advantage to 10 with 12:47 to play before the Chargers began to chip away.

Hillsdale forced four turnovers and outscored the Flyers 16-6 over the next six minutes, tying the score at 59 all with 6:46 to play. The visitors led by as many as five before Lewis rallied back to re-take the lead 65-64 with 2:08 to play. Senior Stephan Bolt keyed the rush with two big baskets. He finished the game with a monster double-double of 27 points and 14 rebounds.

From there the teams exchanged the lead three more times before Dagans sent the game into overtime.

Dagans' 28 points came on 8-of-18 shooting with two 3-pointers. He went 10-for-16 at the line. Bolt was 10-of-16 from the field and 7-of-11 at the line. He also matched his career-high with three blocks and posted a season-high three steals.

Freshman Lonnie Lawrence, Jr. added nine points, six boards and three blocks - including two blocks of Hillsdale's big center - but was limited to 18 minutes after getting in foul trouble.

Senior Brandon Alexander scored eights points and had two blocks. Junior Jason Genova had six points, two assists and one steal. Senior Matt Marino dished out five assists and came up with three steals.

The Chargers were led by Keith MacKenzie's 24 points. Travis Worst added 17. The Flyers were just 2-of-10 from downtown, compared to 10-of-28 by Hillsdale. Lewis won the battle of the boards 45-31, setting a season high in rebounds.

Lewis (7-2) returns to action on Dec. 29 at Northwood.