Feb. 16, 2008

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Clinging to a one-point lead with seconds remaining in overtime, the Flyers' Brandon Dagans jumped in front of a Kentucky Wesleyan pass, snagged the ball and raced to the other end of the floor for a layup to help Lewis to a stunning 58-55 win over No. 22 Kentucky Wesleyan, Saturday afternoon in a crucial Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division game.

Dagans' basket capped a thrilling comeback win by the Flyers. After trailing by as many as 11 points in the second half, Lewis tied the game with just 14 seconds remaining in regulation. Kentucky Wesleyan controlled the overtime session, leading by five with 2:20 to go, but Lewis' defense clamped down the rest of the way and did not allow a single point or commit a single foul the rest of the way.

Down five, the Flyers attempted a 3-pointer and missed, but senior Stephan Bolt was there for the put-back and the foul to cut the Panthers' lead to two. The foul was the fourth of the game on Kentucky Wesleyan's Jeff Fahnbulleh, who led all players with 25 points and 16 rebounds.

After missing a jumper on the other end, Fahnbulleh committed his fifth foul of the game attempting to prevent Bolt from scoring another layup. Bolt missed the first free throw but hit the second, giving Lewis their first lead since 12:35 of the first half.

The Panthers took the ball with 36 seconds left, looking to pull ahead. Maros Zuffa dribbled the ball over half court and attempted a quick pass to a teammate on the left sideline, but Dagans stepped in front of the pass and beat the rush down the court for the bucket.

The Panthers called timeout to set up for the final 11 seconds. After the timeout, the Panthers' got the ball to T.J. Smith for a 3-pointer with three seconds left, but the shot careened to the left corner and time expired before the Panthers' could get off another shot.

The Flyers (18-5, 11-4) have won five straight games, and they snapped the Panthers' (22-4, 12-3) eight-game win streak.

Lewis was behind by eight points to open the second half and fell down 11 with 15:57 to play, before slowly chipping away at the Panthers' lead. Over the final 12 minutes of regulation, Lewis was within one possession of the lead eight times, but it wasn't until the ninth time, and with 14 seconds remaining, that Lewis was finally able to tie the score.

Seven seconds separated the game and shot clock as Kentucky Wesleyan tried to work the clock down, but freshman Dennis Thomas, Jr. came up with a steal and finished with a layup on the other end to tie the score 48-48. The Panthers attempted one more jumper before the buzzer, but missed, sending the contest to overtime.

Dagans and senior Dustin Warfield led Lewis with 15 points each. Warfield also collected nine boards, giving him season highs in points and rebounds.

Bolt led Lewis with 14 boards and scored eight points. He now has 705 rebounds for his career and is just the third player in Lewis' NCAA Division II history to reach 700 career rebounds. Junior Jason Genova totaled 11 points, and Thomas, Jr. added seven with two steals.

Fahnbulleh was the only Panther to reach double digits in points. His team was limited to 9-for-26 from the floor in the second half.

The Flyers play again on Thursday at Indianapolis.