Romeoville, Ill. - The Lewis University men's basketball team fell at home to Missouri-St. Louis 71-65 Thursday (Feb. 1) in a Great Lakes Valley Conference meeting at Neil Carey Arena.

Lewis fell to 10-12 on the year, 5-7 in the GLVC, while UMSL moved to 10-10 overall, 5-6 in GLVC.

An 8-0 run early in the first half helped UMSL build a 13-6 advantage at the 16:23 mark. The lead grew to eight before Lewis answered and tied the game at 18 with 12 minutes left in the half.

The two teams remained close throughout the rest of the half, with UMSL taking a 35-29 lead into the locker room.

The Tritons scored the opening basket of the second half, then the Flyers answered with 15 straight points, culminating with a Cristen Wilson (Cleveland, Ohio/John Hay) three-pointer to give the Flyers a 44-37 lead.

Lewis built its lead to eight at 51-43 before UMSL went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 53 with 7:35 left.

A basket by Marco Pettinato (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) and four points from Wilson gave the Flyers a 59-55 lead with 5:35 left.

But UMSL scored the next nine points to take a 64-59 lead and wouldn't trail again.

Wilson led the Flyers with 34 points and 16 rebounds. Delaney Blaylock (Wyoming, Mich./Godwin Heights) added 15 points and Pettinato had 11 points. Donovan Oliver (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) contributed seven rebounds and four assists.

The Flyers outrebounded the Tritons 41-31 and only committed six turnovers for the contest, but UMSL had just five turnovers.

Lewis shot 25-for-65 (38.5%) from the floor, while UMSL shot 25-for-55 (45.5%).

The Flyers are back in action Saturday (Feb. 3) when the host McKendree at 3 PM.