ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's men's basketball team heads to Bolivar, Mo., for a game at Southwest Baptist on Thursday (Feb. 18) at 7 p.m. Thursday's contest pits the teams ranked fourth and sixth in the latest Great Lakes Valley Conference Point Rating System (PRS) which determines the eight teams that will advance to the GLVC Tournament.
The Flyers (9-8 overall and GLVC) have won two straight and three of their last four after defeating Rockhurst 79-66 in their last outing to pick up a season sweep of the Hawks.
Over its last four games, Lewis is averaging 78.5 points per contest while yielding only 70 and has held its last two opponents to 66 points.
Artese Stapleton (Chicago, Ill./Kenwood) and
Trevian Bell (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West) lead the Flyers in scoring during this stretch with 11.8 points and 11.0 points per game respectively.
Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) and
Marquise Jackson (Macon, Ga./Windsor Academy) are adding 9.5 points per outing while
Atakan Sahinkaya (Istanbul, Turkey/Perkiomen School) is averaging 9.0 points and 5.5 rebounds over the past four contests.
Thursday's contest is also a matchup between two of the top scoring defenses in the GLVC with the Bearcats ranking third in the conference giving up just 69.2 points per game while the Flyers are fourth at 69.6 points per contest.
Lewis is one of the top rebounding teams in the conference averaging 36.1 rebounds per game while allowing only 30.3 per contest and are outrebounding their opponents by nearly six rebounds per game.
SBU enters Thursday's contest with a mark of 12-5 overall and in conference after defeating Indianapolis 88-80 last Saturday afternoon to snap a three-game losing streak. The Bearcats are averaging 77.9 points per contest and have three players averaging double figures in scoring led by Quinn Nelson with 16.6 points per game, Brady Smith is averaging 15.2 points per outing while Mitch Ganote is adding 11.8 per outing. Smith is also the team's leading rebounder with 5.8 boards per game.
SBU is shooting 47.3 percent (465-for-983) from the floor, has connected on 135-of-365 attempts from beyond the arc (37.0 percent) and is shooting 78 percent at the foul line. It is outrebounding its opponents by six rebounds per game.
The Flyers were also supposed to play at Drury on this trip to southwest Missouri, but that game has been canceled due to COVID within the men's basketball program at Drury.
