ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Lewis Flyers fell to the second ranked Bellarmine Knights 66-54 on Thursday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The loss snapped the Flyers seven-game home winning streak dating back to last season.

The Knights (14-0, 4-0 GLVC) jumped out to an early 5-2 lead but Lewis responded with four quick points to take its only lead of the contest. Bellarmine answered right back thanks to an 11-3 run behind six points from Brent Bach.

The Flyers trailed 16-9 with 14:36 to go in the opening half but were able to get back into the game with five straight points and held the Knights scoreless for over seven minutes. Lewis had its opportunities to take the lead but missed a couple of shots and turned the ball over.

Bellarmine took advantage scoring off of back-to-back turnovers for five straight points to extend the lead to seven. The Flyers trimmed the deficit three on multiple occasions in the final minutes of the first half but were unable to get over the hump as the Knights took a 31-26 lead into the break.

Both teams shot 50 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes but Bellarmine outscored Lewis 10-3 in points off turnovers.

The Knights stretched their halftime lead to eight points a minute into the second quarter but the Flyers continued to hang around knocking down four straight three-pointers to begin the second half.

Bellarmine began to pull away thanks to a 10-4 run behind four points from Adam Eberhard and three each from Chivarsky Corbett and CJ Fleming.

Lewis responded with a layup from Adam Pischke (Cary, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) and a pair of free throws by Nick Norton (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) to cut the lead to 50-46 midway through the second half. Delaney Blaylock (Wyoming, Mich./Godwin Heights) had a chance to cut the lead to one but missed a three-pointer.

The Knights countered with another 10-2 run over the next four minutes to build their largest lead of the game at 60-48 on a fast break layup from Bach. The Flyers wouldn't get closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Bellarmine finished the contest shooting 49 percent (22-for-45), it was 8-of-18 from three and 14-for-15 at the foul line. Bach led three Knights in double figures with 21 points while Eberhard added 19 and Jarek Coles dropped in 11. Bellarmine finished the game with a 22-10 advantage in points off turnovers.

Lewis shot 45 percent (19-of-42) from the field, hit seven three's and was 9-of-11 at the foul line. Blaylock led the Flyers with 14 points. Cristen Wilson (Cleveland, Ohio/John Hay) and Pischke added 12 and 10 points respectively.

Lewis is back in action on Saturday when it travels to Indianapolis for a 2 p.m. (Central Time) tip against the Greyhounds.