ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Lewis University men's basketball team concludes its 2017-18 regular season hosting Southern Indiana this Saturday at 3 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers (14-13, 9-8 GLVC) --winners of three straight and four of their last five -- look to secure a spot in the GLVC Tournament which begins next Friday in Edwardsville, Ill.
Lewis looks to avenge its 84-75 overtime loss to the Screaming Eagles from back in November. The Flyers held an 11-point lead with 3:32 to play in the contest after a layup from
Cristen Wilson (Cleveland, Ohio/John Hay) but USI went on a 12-1 run over the next three minutes and tied the game on a layup from Alex Stein with 0:06 left to force overtime.
In its last three games, Lewis has locked down defensively in the second half holding its opponents to an average of 23 points while limiting their shooting to 31 percent from the field, 25 percent from beyond the arc and only 44 percent at the foul line. The Flyers have outrebounded the opposition by over six rebounds per game in those contests.
Last Saturday, Lewis held Missouri S&T to just 14 points in the second half to pull away for the 64-44 win.
Donovan Oliver (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) led three Flyers in double figures with 13 points while Wilson added 12 and
Delaney Blaylock (Wyoming, Mich./Godwin Heights) finished with 10.
ABOUT SOUTHERN INDIANA: The Screaming Eagles enter play this week with a record of 19-9, 10-6 GLVC heading into Thursday's game at Wisconsin-Parkside. They're currently fifth in the GLVC point rating system, which is being used this season to see the conference tournament. USI is 0.28 points behind fourth place Truman State and 0.15 points ahead of sixth-place Maryville.
The Eagles are in the midst of a four-game losing streak after falling to William Jewell 94-81 last Thursday and Rockhurst 75-70 last Saturday. Nate Hansen led four players to average in double-digits last week with 18.5 points per game. Alex Stein followed with 13.5 points per outing, while DayJar Dickson and Emmanuel Little rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12.5 and 10.5 points per contest, respectively.
USI has struggled from long range in its last four games hitting only 22.6 percent (14-62) from beyond the arc. In the five game winning streak prior to the first loss to Illinois Springfield, the Eagles were shooting 38.2 percent (42-110) from downtown.
Stein leads USI in scoring with 18.0 points per game and is joined in double figures by Hansen with 13.4 points per contest while Marellous Washington is dropping in 11.6 ppg. Little and Dickson are the top rebounders on the club averaging 7.0 and 6.8 rebounds per game respectively. Washington has dished out a team leading 100 assists.
