ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis' men's basketball team grinded out a 63-49 win over Missouri-St. Louis for its fifth straight win on Thursday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers, ranked 19th in this week's D2SIDA Media Poll and receiving votes in the NABC Coaches Poll, improve to 18-4 overall and 10-3 in the GLVC while the Tritons drop to 18-6, 9-5 in league play.

With the win, Lewis remains tied atop the GLVC standings along with Bellarmine, who defeated Illinois Springfield 73-65 on Thursday, but fell to second in the Points Ranking System behind the Knights.

UMSL jumped out to an early three-point lead but a 26-7 run by the Flyers gave them a 16-point lead with less than nine minutes to go in the opening half after a three-pointer by Delaney Blaylock (Wyoming, Mich./Godwin Heights).

Lewis extended its lead to 19 points on a layup by Kendale McCullum (Elgin, Ill./Elgin Larkin) with 5:13 left in the stanza but would be held to just one field goal the rest of the half as the Tritons closed the frame on a 9-2 run to cut the Flyer advantage to 37-25 at the half.

Despite missing four of its last five field goals, Lewis still shot 54 percent (15-for-28) in the opening half including 5-of-10 from three and made both of their free throws.

UMSL shot 43.5 percent (10-for-23) from the floor, was 4-of-12 from downtown and shot 25 percent at the charity stripe.

The Flyers struggled with the Tritons full court pressure in the second half but still led by double digits midway through the final 20 minutes because UMSL struggled to shoot the ball in that span.

The Tritons used a 9-2 over a five-minute stretch to get within six on a layup by Josh Carter with 7:19 remaining in the contest.

Lewis answered with back-to-back buckets as McCullum scored on the break and Blaylock hit a three to extend the lead back to double digits.

Eric Dust brought UMSL back to within nine with a layup with 4:34 to go but the Flyers finished the game scoring 11 of the last 17 points to seal the victory.

Lewis only shot 33 percent (7-for-21) in the second half but still finished the game shooting 45 percent (22-for-49) from the field, was 7-fo-20 from three and shot 75 percent at the foul line. It turned 18 Triton turnovers into 24 points.

Blaylock led three Flyers in double figures with 16 points while Anthony D'Avanzo (Harwood Heights, Ill./Notre Dame) added 14 and Donovan Oliver (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) chipped in with 12. Blaylock also had a team-high nine rebounds.

UMSL finished the game shooting 34 percent (19-for-56) from the floor, it was 7-of-26 from beyond the arc and shot only 50 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded Lewis 37-to-28 and had a 15-4 advantage in second chance points.

Dust was the lone Triton to reach double figures finishing with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Shane Wissink added nine points off the bench.

The Flyers play their final home game of the regular season on Saturday hosting Maryville at 3 p.m. They will honor their three seniors prior to the start of the contest. Saturday's game will also be 'Playing For Preemies' day with fans encouraged to wear purple to the game.