ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's men's basketball team fell to No. 8 Bellarmine 77-60 on Saturday afternoon at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers fall to 10-10 overall, 5-7 in the GLVC, while the Knights move to 16-3, 9-3 GLVC.

Bellarmine opened the game on an 11-2 run and never allowed Lewis to get closer than six points the rest of the way. The Knights took a 16-point lead into the locker room at the half on Alex Cook's layup in the final seconds of the stanza.

Bellarmine shot over 55 percent from the floor and was 5-of-12 from three in the opening half. Cook led the Knights with eight points while Ben Weyer and Dylan Penn had six points apiece.

The Flyers struggled shooting the ball in the first 20 minutes hitting only 8-of-28 shots and was held to 14 percent shooting from beyond the arc. Anthony D'Avanzo (Harwood Heights, Ill./Notre Dame) led Lewis with eight points while Marco Pettinato (Mokena, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) added seven points off the bench.

Bellarmine extended its lead to 21 points early in the second half but the Flyers were able to cut the lead to 53-41 with 11:26 remaining on a jumper by Dre Bell (Detroit, Mich./River Rouge).

That would be the closest Lewis got the rest of the way as the Knights sealed the game with a 20-9 run spanning nearly seven minutes.

Bellarmine finished the contest shooting over 56 percent from the floor, was 10-of-23 from beyond the arc and shot 70 percent at the foul line. CJ Fleming led the Knights with 14 points while Cook added 12.

The Flyers shot over 37 percent from the field, was 9-of-30 from three and shot 64 percent at the foul line. D'Avanzo led all scorers with 19 points and Pettinato added 12 off the bench.

Lewis heads to southwest Missouri for a pair of games next weekend beginning with a matchup at Drury next Thursday at 7:45 p.m.