BOLIVAR, Mo. – Lewis University's men's basketball team's comeback attempt came up short in a 64-63 loss at Southwest Baptist on Thursday evening at the Meyer Wellness Center in Bolivar, Mo. The Flyers drop to 9-9 on the season while the Bearcats improve to 13-5.
Lewis trailed 43-24 with less than 16 minutes to go when it began to chip away at the lead. It went on a 12-0 run over the next 3:35 to cut the lead to 43-36 after a pair of free throws from
Vlado Zrnic (Greendale, Wis./Greendale).
SBU pushed its lead back to 11 less than a minute later after back-to-back buckets from Mitch Ganote and Rickey Crawford Jr.
Lewis still trailed by 10 with 6:27 remaining before going on a 12-3 run to cut the deficit to 60-59 on a three-pointer from
Dre Bell (Detroit, Mich./River Rouge) with less than three minutes to play.
Joe Miller extended the Bearcat lead to three with two free throws on the ensuing possession.
Neither side would score again until inside the final minute. Zrnic got loose underneath and D. Bell found him for the dunk to cut the SBU lead to 62-61 with 0:47 to go and then
Trevian Bell (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West) picked up a steal on the defensive end on the next possession to give the Flyers a chance at the lead.
T. Bell missed his first attempt but got his own rebound and scored on the putback to give Lewis its only lead of the night with 0:13 remaining.
The Bearcats came right back down and scored on Ganote's jumper in the lane with 0:07 to regain the lead at 64-63.
The Flyers had a chance to win the game in the closing seconds but D. Bell's three-pointer from the left wing came up short and Lewis was unable to get another shot off before the buzzer.
Lewis couldn't shake off a cold start as it missed 10 of its first 11 shots and fell behind 10-0 to start the contest. The Flyers shot only 22.2 percent (6-for-27) from the field in the first 20 minutes and were just 9-of-15 at the foul line.
Lewis was much better in the second half connecting on 44 percent (16-of-36) of their attempts but were just 7-for-11 at the charity stripe.
Zrnic led three Flyers in double figures with 14 points while D. Bell added 11 and
Marquise Jackson (Macon, Ga./Windsor Academy) finished with 10 points.
The Bearcats finished the contest shooting 52.3 percent (23-for-44) from the floor, were 5-of-17 from three and shot 81 percent at the foul line. Miller matched Zrnic with the game-high in points with 14 while Jalil Beaubrun added 12 points and Brady Smith finished with 10 points.
Lewis returns to the court next Thursday (Feb. 25) hosting Missouri S&T at 7:30 p.m.
