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Romeoville, Ill. - The Lewis University men's basketball team can still lay claim to being the only team to make the Great Lakes Valley Conference Quarterfinals in each of the last 10 years, as the Flyers picked up the 80-76 victory over Illinois Springfield in a GLVC First Round showdown at Neil Carey Arena on Sunday (Feb. 28) afternoon.

Lewis senior forward Kyle Nelson (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) recorded a team-best 23 points with a career-best 11 baskets along with six rebounds, while junior Capel Henshaw (Harrisburg, Ill./Harrisburg) set a career-high with 19 points and tied a career-high with five three-pointers.

Freshman guard Delaney Blaylock (Wyoming, Mich./Godwin Heights) had 17 points, including four three-pointers, along with five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block, while junior guard Miles Simelton (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) posted 10 points and a team-best four assists.

With the victory, Lewis improves to 21-8, while the Prairie Stars end the season with a record of 11-18. Lewis will now play the University of Indianapolis in the GLVC Quarterfinals on Friday (March 4) for the second-straight year at Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo. Tip-off time has yet to be determined.

UIS senior guard Jamall Millison led four Prairie Star players with a game-high 27 points, including four three-pointers, and nine rebounds. UIS senior guard JJ Cravatta and junior forward Paxton Harmon both hit three trifectas and finished with 13 points, while freshman center Zach Steinbert finished with 10 points and nine boards.

As a team, Lewis shot over 50.0% for the sixth-straight game, converting 50.8% (30-for-59) of their attempts and 47.8% (11-for-23) of their three-point attempts. UIS kept itself in the contest with the three-point shot with 15 trifectas.

Steinberg hit the final three-pointer of the game for UIS with 54 seconds remaining to cut Lewis' lead to 77-74. Simelton missed a jumper on the ensuing possession and UIS freshman Logan Gonce (6 points, 6 assists) grabbed the defensive rebound with 31 seconds remaining. 

The Prairie Stars had two more chances to tie the game, but Millison's final three-point attempt went array and Henshaw collected the rebound with 13 seconds left. Henshaw drained both of his free throw attempts to extend Lewis' lead to 79-74 and put the game away for good.

"UIS is never out of it," Lewis head men's basketball coach Scott Trost said. "They have some guys that can really, really shoot and they hit some tough shots today.

"Overall I'm happy to win at this time of year and move on."