Feb. 22, 2007

Box Score

OWENSBORO, Ky. - Kentucky Wesleyan outscored Lewis 56-39 in the second half Thursday night and handed the Flyers an 86-73 defeat.

However, the news is not all bad. Despite the loss, Lewis (15-12, 10-9 GLVC) has secured one of eight spots in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship tournament for the first time in three years.

The conference tournament quarterfinals begin at noon March 1, with the semifinals scheduled for March 3 at noon and 2:30 p.m. and the championship game set for March 4 at 1 p.m. The tournament winner is the GLVC champion and earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Championship tournament.

Lewis will face Southern Indiana in the quarterfinals at either 6 or 8:30 p.m. March 1. A victory would put the Flyers in the 2:30 p.m. semifinal two days later.

Thursday, Lewis was in front for most of the first half and led by as many as eight points on three occasions before settling for a 34-30 halftime edge.

Kentucky Wesleyan (12-14, 5-13) chipped away in the opening minutes of the second half and tied the score at 45 with 14:10 to play. Lewis regained the lead briefly on a short jumper by Jason Genova, who led all scorers with 29 points, before KWC went ahead to stay on a Josh Vannoy 3-pointer.

The Flyers stayed within three points for the next two minutes, but an 8-0 KWC spurt put the Panthers up 60-51 at the 10:46 mark. Lewis drew no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Genova was 12-of-22 overall and 5-of-13 from 3-point range, and he added six rebounds. Stephan Bolt tallied 17 points and seven rebounds, and Keelan Donald collected 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Matthew Marino had 11 assists - tying his career high and the GLVC season high he established in the first Lewis-Kentucky Wesleyan meeting in January - and just one turnover while playing all 40 minutes.

Four Kentucky Wesleyan players scored in double figures, led by Rodney Edgerson's 20 points. Alvin Lewis netted 18 points to go with seven assists, and Vannoy scored all 15 of his points on a 5-of-7 performance from beyond the arc. Jeff Fahnbulleh led all players with eight rebounds.

KWC hit 10 treys (10-of-22) to Lewis' 5-of-18, outscored the Flyers 18-10 at the foul line and earned a 35-31 advantage on the boards. The teams combined for just 15 turnovers (Lewis seven, KWC eight).