Dec. 10, 2009

Box Score

Men's Basketball: Lewis 73, Olivet Nazarene 70 in PDF Format

Romeoville, Ill. - With the game on the line, Lewis sophomore guard Chris McClellan (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Wheeling) decided to take matters into his own hands.

McClellan scored the Flyers' last six points, including the go-ahead score with 11 seconds left, to lift the Lewis University men's basketball team to the 73-70 come-from-behind non-conference victory over Olivet Nazarene at Neil Carey Arena on Thursday (Dec. 10) night.

McClellan finished with a game-high 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field, including three trifectas, and tied a career-high with six rebounds.

"Chris took over and hit some big shots tonight and that's what we need from him," Lewis head coach Scott Trost said. "I've been on him to be more aggressive, push the ball and search for his shot more and I thought he did that tonight. When he plays with that kind of aggressiveness and confidence, he's a good player."

Lewis junior guard Dennis Thomas Jr. (Milwaukee, Wis./Bradley Tech) added 15 points, while freshman David Bryant (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) chipped in 11 points off the bench and sophomore forward Justin Jarosz (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) posted 10 tallies on the evening.

With the victory, Lewis improves to 6-2 overall, while the visiting Tigers drop to 5-5 on the campaign.

Olivet Nazarene guard Antonio Marshall led the Tigers with 18 points, while Jordan Harks chipped in a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds and Rashad Mitchell added 10 tallies.

Olivet Nazarene was seemingly in control for the entire game, building a 55-47 lead over the Flyers following a Mitchell jumper with 10:15 left in the second half.

The Flyers answered with an 8-0 run over the next 1:39, as McClellan and Jarosz each hit three-pointers to even the score up at 55 with 8:56 left in the contest. That marked the game's first tie since the score was knotted at six with 16:16 remaining in the opening half.

Olivet Nazarene was able to stave off the Lewis rally for a few minutes, before Bryant knocked down a trey to put the Flyers ahead at 66-65 with 2:43 left in the contest. The Flyers would tack on another point with a Thomas free throw at the 1:59 mark to extend their advantage to 67-65.

The Tigers answered with a Mitchell lay-up with 53 seconds left on the clock to even the score at 67. Mitchell was fouled, but he was unable to convert the free throw for the three-point play. ONU was 6-for-11 from the free throw line on Thursday.

That set the stage for McClellan to take control of the game.

The Buffalo Grove, Ill., native answered with a lay-up to put the Flyers back in front at 69-67 with 39 seconds remaining.

ONU, however, would not go away quietly, as Marshall calmly knocked down a three-pointer with 18 ticks left to put the Tigers ahead at 70-69.

Trost quickly called for a time-out and put the ball in McClellan's hands. The 6-1 sophomore knew just what to do and drove to the basket for an acrobatic lay-up to push the Flyers ahead, 71-70 with 11 seconds remaining.

ONU head coach Ralph Hodge called for a time-out and set up a play for Mitchell. Mitchell took a nice entry pass and was unable to convert, but Harks was able to claim the offensive board with five seconds remaining.

Lewis sophomore center Marty Strus (Hickory Hills, Ill./Stagg) promptly fouled Harks, for the Flyers sixth foul of the second half, forcing ONU to take the ball out-of-bounds.

ONU junior forward Nick Klomstad launched a three-pointer that went array, and McClellan claimed the rebound. He was fouled and knocked down both of his free throw attempts to put the game out of reach for ONU.

Lewis returns to action on Saturday (Dec. 12) afternoon, as the Flyers welcome in-region opponent Wayne State to Neil Carey Arena for a 3 p.m. tip-off.

A Catholic university sponsored by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Lewis offers nearly 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, accelerated degree completion options for working adults, various aviation programs and 22 graduate programs in nine fields. The 9th largest private, not-for-profit university in Illinois is being honored for the sixth consecutive year by The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report. For more information please visit www.lewisu.edu.

##LEWIS##