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Romeoville, Ill. - The Rockhurst University men's basketball team gave No. 22 Lewis University a scare, but the host Flyers, led by a game-high 26 points from junior guard Ryan Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield), held on for the 73-69 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over the visiting Hawks at Neil Carey Arena on Thursday (Feb. 6) night.

Jackson was 7-for-18 from the field and converted 11-of-13 of his free throw attempts. Lewis is now 9-0 over the past two seasons when Jackson gets to the free throw line at least 10 times. As a team, Lewis hit 25-for-32 of their free throw attempts, including an 18-for-22 outing in the second half. The Flyers have gone to the free throw line 30+ times in three out of their last four contests.

Lewis junior forward Julian Lewis (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while sophomore center Kyle Nelson (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) was a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor and finished with 10 points.

"Give credit to Rockhurst," Lewis head men's basketball coach Scott Trost said. "I thought they played hard and with a lot of purpose and they gave us all we could handle.

"I didn't think we played particularly well, but in the end we made stops and hit big free throws," Trost continued. "It's good to come out with a win."

With the win, Lewis improves to 17-3 overall and 9-3 in conference action, while the Hawks fall to 5-14 on the campaign and 1-11 in GLVC play.

Rockhurst senior guard James Robinson came off the bench to score a team-best 14 points, including two three-pointers. Hawks redshirt freshman forward Andrew Ellwanger connected for three trifectas and finished with 11 points, while redshirt senior forward Russell Burns had 10 points and nine rebounds.

Lewis was in control for much of the contest, building a 13-point lead with less than two minutes left in the first half. Rockhurst, however, would not fold as the Hawks continually chipped away at the Flyer advantage  before taking a 57-56 lead following an Ellwanger tip-in at the 3:42 mark of the second half.

The Flyers would tie the game on the ensuing possession, as junior point guard Jeff Jarosz (Lyons, Ill./Morton) split a pair of free throws to even the score at 57 with 3:31 left in the contest.

The game would be tied five more times, before Jackson hit a pair of free throws with 46 seconds left to give Lewis the 67-66 advantage.

Rockhurst was unable to score on their next possession and sent Jackson to the line one more time with 32 ticks remaining in the game. Jackson split his charity tosses, extending Lewis' lead to 68-66.

With a chance to tie, Rockhurst's Nardie Bogues stepped on the baseline on a drive with 19 seconds remaining, giving the ball back to the Flyers. Lewis senior guard Nick Valla (Tinley Park, Ill./Marist) was immediately fouled and hit both of his free throws with 18 seconds remaining to push the Flyers ahead, 70-66.

That would not be the end for the Hawks as Robinson drained a three from the left wing to narrow Lewis' advantage to 70-69 with 13 seconds left. Rockhurst fouled again, sending Valla to the line.

Valla split his free throws as the Flyers held a 71-69 advantage with 10 seconds left. Bogues drove to the basket, but was unable to convert the game-tying lay-up with two seconds left. Lewis grabbed his 14th rebound of the night and was fouled. He hit both of his free throw attempts to seal the win for the Flyers.

Lewis returns to action on Saturday (Feb. 6), as the Flyers host William Jewell for a 3 PM tip-off at Neil Carey Arena.