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Romeoville, Ill. - The Lewis University men's basketball team may have dropped an 80-75 decision at the hands of No. 1 Bellarmine, but the Flyers went down swinging against the defending national champions with a furious rally down the stretch at Neil Carey Arena on Saturday (Feb. 4) night.

"I'm really proud of the way our guys competed tonight," Lewis head men's basketball coach Scott Trost said. "We came up a little short, but hopefully we learned a few things about our team tonight.

"We went right down to the wire with the number one team in the country."

Lewis senior point guard Chris McClellan (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Wheeling) (Buffalo Grove, Ill./Wheeling) led all scorers with 24 points, including four three-pointers. Freshman guard Ryan Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield) (Bolingbrook, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield) and sophomore guard Nick Valla (Tinley Park, Ill./Marist) (Tinley Park, Ill./Marist/Missouri State) each scored 16 points in the loss.

Senior center Marty Strus (Hickory Hills, Ill./Stagg) (Hickory Hills, Ill./Stagg) posted a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds, along with four steals. Senior forward Justin Jarosz (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport) pitched in 10 rebounds.

With the win, Bellarmine improves to 20-1 overall and 12-1 in GLVC action, while the Flyers are now 13-8 on the season and 5-8 in conference play.

Bellarmine junior guard Chris Dowe went 10-for-12 from field goal range to finish with a team-best 23 points along with six rebounds, four blocks and three steals. BU senior forward Luke Sprague added 17 points and eight rebounds, while senior guard Braydon Hobbs collected 16 points, seven rebounds, four assists, four blocks and three steals. Knights' guard Jeremy Kendle pitched in 11 points and a game-high five assists.

The Knights seemed in control of the game, as they held a 59-41 advantage over Lewis with 12:15 remaining in the game, following a three-pointer by Hobbs. The Flyers, however, would not go away so easily, as they went on a 28-12 run to cut Bellarmine's lead to 71-69 with 1:37 left in the contest. Valla posted 14 of his season-high 16 points during that stretch.

Lewis was unable to get stops on Bellarmine's following two possessions, as the Knights' extended their lead to 75-69 with 45 seconds remaining, following a buckets by Dowe and Jelani Johnson (6 points).

Forced to foul, Lewis sent Bellarmine to the line six times over the final 27 seconds and the Knights' knocked down down five of the charity shots to secure the win.

Lewis returns to action on Thursday (Feb. 9) at 7:45 p.m. (EST), as the Flyers travel to Owensboro, Ky., to square off with No. 7 Kentucky Wesleyan.