Dec. 5, 2009

Box Score

Men's Basketball: Lewis 86, Maryville 59 in PDF Format

Romeoville, Ill. - Lewis head men's basketball coach Scott Trost challenged his squad to respond in a positive way after the Flyers dropped a tough Great Lakes Valley Conference decision to Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday night.

The Flyers, led by 17 points apiece from sophomore forward Justin Jarosz (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) and junior guard Dennis Thomas (Milwaukee, Wis./Bradley Tech), answered the call and used a 24-2 run to end the first half on their way to the 86-59 GLVC win over Maryville at Neil Carey Arena on Saturday (Dec. 5) afternoon.

Jarosz and Thomas combined to shoot 66.7% (6-for-9) from three-point land with each player knocking down three treys. Jarosz's 17 points was a career-high for the Homer Glen, Ill., native. Sophomore forward Matt Toth (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) added 16 points in the victory.

"I saw a lot more energy out there today," Trost said. "I challenged them for more effort and intensity on the defensive end. We also did some good things offensively. We were sharing the ball, reversed the ball and created some opportunities out there. Overall I was pleased with our performance and there are a lot of positives I saw out there that we can build on."

With the victory, Lewis improves to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in conference action, while the visiting Saints drop to 0-6 on the campaign and 0-2 in GLVC play.

Lewis, who entered Saturday's game holding opponents under 40.0% shooting on the season, continued that trend by holding Maryville to 38.6% (22-for-57) shooting from the field. Conversely, the Flyers shot a blistering 52.4% (33-for-63) from the field, including a team-season high 22 assists.

Maryville reserve center Jacob Dulle topped the Saints with 13 points off the bench.

Lewis returns to action on Thursday (Dec. 10) night, as they welcome Olivet Nazarene to Neil Carey Arena for a 7:30 p.m. (CST) 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.

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