ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis' men's basketball team overcame a slow start to upset the third ranked Bellarmine Knights on Thursday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers improve to 16-4 overall and 8-3 in the GLVC while the Knights fall to 18-2, 9-2 GLVC.

It's Lewis' first win over Bellarmine since the 2016 GLVC semifinal game at Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo.

The Flyers missed 16 of their first 19 shots to begin the game and trailed by nine with 11:56 left to go in the opening half. Lewis cut the lead to four on a jumper by Adam Pischke (Cary, Ill./Marian Central Catholic) but the Knights quickly responded scoring five of the next seven points to extend their lead back to seven.

Anthony D'Avanzo (Harwood Heights, Ill./Notre Dame) brought the Flyers to within 22-21 scoring six straight points in the span of 1:22.

Bellarmine capitalized on some missed opportunities by Lewis scoring seven in a row to push its lead to eight points after a layup in transition by Alex Cook with 2:37 left in the half. The Flyers answered over the final 2:24 of the period outscoring the Knights 6-2 to cut the margin to four at the half.

Lewis scored the first five points of the second half to take its first lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Pischke 2:12 into the frame. Bellarmine countered with four straight of its own to regain the lead at 35-32 on layup by Chivarsky Corbett just over a minute later.

The Flyers got hot from the three-point line making five straight with four of those from Pischke to take a 47-35 lead with 14:02 left to play. That lead eventually grew to 15 after Kendale McCullum (Elgin, Ill./Elgin Larkin) hit 1-of-2 at the foul line.

The Knights showed why they're one of the best teams in the country responding with a 13-2 run in the span of 2:35 to cut the Lewis lead to 50-48 near midway the point of the second half.

However, the Flyers didn't fold scoring five straight to push its lead back to seven on a three-pointer by Delaney Blaylock (Wyoming, Mich./Godwin Heights) with 8:40 remaining.

Bellarmine punched back with five straight of its own and trailed 55-53 with 5:03 left after a three-pointer from CJ Fleming.

Pischke and McCullum hit back-to-back jumpers to extend the lead back to six. Adam Eberhard, the number three scorer in the GLVC, responded with a tough jumper in the lane to make it a four-point margin but Brandon McCombs (Jacksonville, Ill./Jacksonville) answered with a dunk on the ensuing possession.

The Knights wouldn't get closer than four points as they went cold from the field missing six of their final seven shots.

Lewis had its chance to ice the game at the line but missed four of six free throws in the final 0:36 seconds.

After its slow start, the Flyers made 22 of its final 34 field goal attempts to finish the game shooting 47.2 percent (25-for-53). They were 8-of-19 from three but shot just 54 percent at the foul line. They also outrebounded Bellarmine 37-to-33.

Pischke led three players in double figures in scoring for Lewis with 20 while Blaylock added 15 and D'Avanzo chipped in with 12. Blaylock also grabbed 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

Corbett matched Pischke for game-high honors in scoring with 20 points and was joined in double figures by Cook with 14 and Eberhard added 12. The Knights entered the game as the top shooting team in the country but were held to just 39 percent shooting (23-for-59) and shot only 25 percent from three.   

The Flyers continue their four-game homestand on Saturday hosting Southern Indiana at 3 p.m.The Screaming Eagles picked up an 85-70 win at Indianapolis on Thursday.