ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's men's basketball team dropped its season opener to Michigan Tech 67-57 on Friday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers are 0-1 while the Wildcats are 1-0.

Lewis struggled to shoot the ball missing 12 of its first 14 shots to begin the contest and trailed by as many as seven midway through the opening half. The Flyers went on a 12-2 run over the next 4:47 to take its biggest lead of the night at 21-18 on a layup from Connor Niego (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township).

It would be their only lead of the night as Northern Michigan closed the half on a 10-1 run over the final 3:38 to take a six-point lead into the locker room at the break.

Lewis shot just 26 percent (7-for-27) in the first 20 minutes, was 1-of-7 from three and shot 54 percent (7-for-13) foul line. The Flyers were outrebounded by the Wildcats 23-15. Niego and Deon Ejim (Toronto, Canda/TRC Academy) had seven points apiece to lead Lewis.

NMU was a little better making 39 percent (12-of-31) of its attempts from the floor, were 3-of-14 from thee and made its only free throw attempt. Ben Wolf led the 'Cats with nine points while Max Bjorklund added six points and Tre Harvey had five off the bench.

The Flyers scored the first three points of the second half to cut the margin to three points but that would be the closest they got the rest of the night as Northern Michigan went on an 8-0 run to push its lead to double digits on a dunk from Wolf.

That lead grew to as many as 16 with 7:22 to play on a three-pointer from Nick Wagner.

Lewis outscored the Wildcats 5-1 over the final two minutes for the final margin.

Niego and Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) led the Flyers with 10 points apiece while Marquise Jackson (Macon, Ga./Windsor Academy) finished with eight points and Ejim had seven. Niego finished with a double-double as he also pulled down a game-high 10 boards. Lewis finished the contest shooting 35 percent (19-for-54) from the field, shot 25 percent from three and was 16-of-26 at the foul line. It was outrebounded 40-31 in the contest. The Flyers forced 14 turnovers and had eight steals.

The 'Cats shot 42.4 percent (25-for-59) from the field in the contest, were 11-of-33 from downtown and shot 75 percent at the charity stripe. Wagner led all scorers with 22 points while Harvey and Wolf had 13 points apiece. Wolf had a team-high nine rebounds.

Lewis is back in action on Saturday afternoon hosting Michigan Tech at 3 p.m. The Huskies lost to McKendree 74-59 in Friday evening's first contest.