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Romeoville, Ill. - The Lewis University men's basketball team was ever-so-close to their second-straight win over a ranked team, but the Flyers were unable to complete their rally from a 19-point second half deficit, as No. 10 Southern Indiana held on for the 65-64 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory at Neil Carey Arena on Saturday (Jan. 26) afternoon.

Lewis senior guard David Bryant (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) topped the Flyers with 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting, including a 4-for-6 performance from beyond the arc. Over the past four games, Bryant is shooting 66.7% (18-for-24) from three-point range.

Sophomore guard Ryan Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield) (Bolingbrook, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield) posted 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds, while freshman forward Kyle Nelson (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) added 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting.

"This is a tough loss, but I'm proud of the way we fought back," Lewis head men's basketball coach Scott Trost said. "We dug ourselves too big of a hole in the first half, but in the second half I thought we played with more purpose, we were tougher and we competed better.

"Hopefully we learn from a game like this and keep making progress."

With the victory, Southern Indiana improves to 14-3 overall and 7-2 in GLVC play, while the host Flyers are now 11-6 on the campaign and 5-4 in conference action.

USI junior guard Lawrence Thomas led all scorers with 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including four three-pointers. The Screaming Eagles also received 13 points from junior forward Orlando Rutledge and 10 points from senior center Keith DeWitt.

Southern Indiana stormed to a 43-26 halftime lead as they shot 60.7% (17-for-28) from the floor and 60% (6-for-10) from three-point range. The Flyers did not help their cause as they shot 34.5% (10-for-29) and only made five of their last 20 shots of the period.

USI would extend that lead to 51-32 following a Kenyon Smith (7 points) lay-up with 14:56 left in the contest.

That's when the Flyers turned the heat up on USI, as they went on a 23-5 run over the next 12:51 to cut the Screaming Eagles' lead to 56-55 with 2:05 left in the contest. Bryant was the catalyst for the Flyers as he converted three trifectas and had 13 points during that span.

On USI's next possession, they hauled in a pair of offensive rebounds, before DeWitt put back a lay-up to give the Screaming Eagles a 58-55 lead with 1:26 left. Nelson responded with a tip-in on the Flyers' next trip down the court, to cut the gap to 58-57 with 1:04 left in the game.

Following a Flyer time-out, Thomas knocked down his fourth three-pointer of the game to push USI ahead, 61-57 with 46 ticks remaining.

Bryant missed a three-pointer with 37 seconds left before Smith grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Jackson with 34 seconds left. Not yet in the bonus, Lewis had to commit three more fouls before USI went to the line.

DeWitt missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and junior guard Nick Valla (Tinley Park, Ill./Marist) (Tinley Park, Ill./Tinley Park) grabbed the rebound. The Flyers were unable to convert on the offensive end and were forced to foul.

USI junior forward Taylor Wischmeier (8 points, 7 rebounds) was also unable to connect on the front end of the 1-and-1, keeping the Flyers' hopes alive.

Lewis sophomore point guard Jeff Jarosz (Lyons, Ill./Morton) (Lyons, Ill./Morton) recorded a lay-up with 11 seconds remaining to cut USI's lead to 61-59. Jarosz finished with seven points, three steals and a game-high five assists.

Lewis sent Rutledge to the free throw line with 10 seconds left, where he dropped both of his charity tosses to give USI the 63-59 lead.

Jackson scored on the next possession for the Flyers with six seconds remaining to narrow the score to 63-61. Forced to foul again, Thomas hit both of his free throw attempts with four seconds left to put the game out of reach for the Flyers.

Lewis returns to action on Thursday (Jan. 31), as they head to Indiana to square off with No. 11 Indianapolis. Tip-off is set for 7:30 PM (ET).