EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Lewis' men's basketball team picked up an important road win on Thursday defeating Southern Indiana 83-73 to move into the top spot in the GLVC's Point Rating System. The Flyers lead Bellarmine by .03 points heading into Saturday's showdown at Knights Hall.

Lewis, ranked second in this week's NCAA Midwest Regional rankings, 18th in the D2SIDA Media Poll and 24th in the NABC Coaches Poll, improve to 20-4 overall and 12-3 in GLVC play while Southern Indiana, ranked fifth in the NCAA Midwest Regional rankings, falls to 18-7, 10-5 GLVC.

Things didn't start well for the Flyers as they trailed 11-4 less than three minutes into the game and had to use an early timeout. That deficit grew to nine before Lewis began to chip away at the lead and got to within 17-15 on a layup by Donovan Oliver (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee).

USI pushed its lead back to five but the Flyers countered with a 10-2 run in the span of two minutes to take the lead at 25-22 on a layup from Kendale McCullum (Elgin, Ill./Elgin Larkin). McCullum and Adam Pischke (Cary, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) combined for all 10 points in the run.

The Screaming Eagles cut it to one after a pair of free throws but Lewis answered with seven straight to grab an eight-point lead on a jumper from Frank Vukaj (Davison, Mich./Davison) with less than seven minutes remaining in the half.

The lead eventually grew to nine but Southern Indiana responded with a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 39-38 after two Josh Price free throws with 0:33 left in the half. McCullum hit two free throws on the ensuing possession to give the Flyers a three-point lead at halftime.

Lewis opened the second half scoring the first 12 points in a span of 4:29 to extend its lead to 53-38. McCullum had five points in the run while Vukaj, Anthony D'Avanzo (Harwood Heights, Ill./Notre Dame) and Delaney Blaylock (Wyoming, Mich./Godwin Heights) had two apiece.

The lead eventually grew to 18 but the Flyers went cold for a stretch which allowed Southern Indiana to get within 10 with 11:07 left in the game. Lewis extended the lead back to 14 but the Eagles had one more run in them cutting it to 79-73 on a layup by Alex Stein with less than a minute to go.

The Flyers were able to close the game out at the line by hitting their final four free throws to secure the victory.

McCullum finished with a career-high 28 points to lead all scorers. He was joined in double figures by Oliver with 14 and Pischke added 13. Lewis shot 55.4 percent (31-for-56) in the contest, was 7-of-15 from three but shot only 67 percent at the foul line. It outscored USI 32-to-24 in the paint.

Emmanuel Little led three Eagles players in double figures with 19 points while Stein finished with 17 and Mateo Rivera dropped home 15 points. Southern Indiana was held to 39.3 percent (24-for-61) shooting in the contest and was just 5-of-20 from three.

Lewis heads to Louisville to take on Bellarmine on Saturday afternoon at 2:15 p.m. (CT).