SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Lewis men's basketball team overcame a 17-point first half deficit to defeat Illinois Springfield 78-73 on Thursday night in Springfield, Ill. The Flyers improve to 14-4 overall and 6-3 in the GLVC while the Prairie Stars fall to 13-7 and 6-4 in league action.

Lewis shot 57 percent from the floor in the second half and outscored UIS 46-to-30. Kendale McCullum (Elgin, Ill./Elgin Larkin) led all scorers with 23 points and was one of four Flyers to reach double figures in the contest. Delaney Blaylock (Wyoming, Mich./Godwin Heights) finished with 14 points while Anthony D'Avanzo (Harwood Heights, Ill./Notre Dame) and Donovan Oliver (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) had 12 points apiece.

Lewis made 30-of-64 (47 percent) of its attempts from the floor in the contest and was 13-for-15 at the foul line. The Flyers held the Prairie Stars to just 31 percent shooting in the second half.

Lewis opened the second half on a 17-4 run and took its first lead of the game on a layup by McCullum with 13:37 to play. UIS tied the game on a layup by Aundrae Williams but Blaylock gave the Flyers the lead right back hitting a layup in the paint.

The Prairie Stars regained the lead on a three-pointer by Bahari Amaya with 10:24 to play then Oliver gave Lewis the lead right back with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession. The Flyers extended their lead to 63-56 on a three-pointer by McCullum and a basket from Oliver with 5:48 left.

Cole Harper brought the Stars to within four hitting a three from the right corner but McCullum answered scoring Lewis' next seven points helping it build its largest lead of the night at 70-59 with 3:25 to play.

UIS refused to go away running off nine in a row over the next 90 seconds to cut the Flyer lead to 70-68. Blaylock hit a pull-up jumper to extend the lead to four but Amaya answered with his fourth trey of the game to cut the margin to 72-71 with 1:05 left.

Lewis was able to break the pressure and find D'Avanzo wide open for a dunk but Daniel Soetan answered with a dunk on the other end to keep the margin at one with 34.3 left.

On the ensuing possession Blaylock was fouled on a drive to the hoop and made both free throws to extend the lead to 76-73 with 0:22 to play. The Stars had a chance to tie the score but Williams lost the ball and McCullum came away with it.

UIS knocked the ball away and in the scramble D'Avanzo came up with it in the left corner and was fouled with 0:03 left. He hit both free throws to ice the game.

The game didn't start well for the Flyers as they missed 11 of their first 14 shots as the Prairie Stars raced out to an 11-point lead less than eight minutes into the contest. The UIS lead eventually grew to as many as 17 after a three-pointer from Bahari Amaya with 7:49 left in the half.

The Flyers cut into the lead by scoring the final five points of the frame including a buzzer beating three from Donovan Oliver (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) to make it an 11-point game at the intermission.

After its slow start shooting, Lewis made 11 of its final 24 shots of the half to finish the stanza shooting 40 percent.  

Lewis is back in action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Lebanon, Ill., to take on McKendree at 3 p.m.