EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Lewis University's men's basketball's team upset bid came up short as it fell to Southern Indiana 62-60 on Saturday evening at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

The Flyers, seeded sixth, led for the entire first half and were up by as many as 10 at 34-24 after a layup from Atakan Sahinkaya (Istanbul, Turkey/Perkiomen School) with 3:32 remaining in the stanza.

The Screaming Eagles, seeded third, ran off eight straight to cut the lead to two just 1:23 later on a three-pointer from Clayton Hughes.

Brandon McCombs (Jacksonville, Ill./Jacksonville) put Lewis ahead by four at the half scoring on a put back of an Artese Stapleton (Chicago, Ill./Kenwood) miss with under a minute to play in the stanza.

The Flyers were held to just one field goal and just five points for the first 10-plus minutes of the second half as USI took a 47-41 lead as part of a 15-5 run.

Lewis ran off five straight to cut the deficit to 47-46 but the Screaming Eagles came back with six in a row to take their largest lead of the evening at 53-46 on a three-pointer by Jelani Simmons.

The Flyers used an 11-1 run over the next four minutes to regain the lead and stretched to 57-54 on a tip-in from McCombs as went flying down the lane to put back a Bruno Williams (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) miss.

The two sides swapped free throws and Lewis was still in front until Tyler Hunter hit a three from the right wing in front of the USI bench to knot the score at 59.

The Flyers regained the lead as Williams hit 1-of-2 at the charity stripe with less than two minutes to play. That would be the final point of the night for Lewis as it missed three shots from the field, one from the foul line and turned it over once.

The Flyers had a chance to extend their lead, but Marquise Jackson (Macon, Ga./Windsor Academy) missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Screaming Eagles got the rebound.

USI retook the lead on two Josh Price free throws with 15.1 remaining.

Lewis had a chance to retake the lead, but Williams pull up jumper from the foul line with 0:05 left was off the mark and Price got the rebound and was fouled. Price hit one-of-two at the line to extend the lead to 62-60 with 3.2 seconds remaining.

The Flyers had one more chance as they rushed it up the court and Stapleton got off a good look at the buzzer, but his shot hit off the back iron and wouldn't fall to end the game.

Lewis finished the contest shooting 36.5 percent (19-for-52) from the field, was 6-of-17 from three and shot 76 percent (16-for-21) at the foul line. It outrebounded USI 30-28 forced 21 Screaming Eagle turnovers.

Williams led the Flyers with 14 points and was joined in double figures by McCombs with 10 points. Stapleton had a game-high nine rebounds.

Lewis finishes its season with a record of 14-10 while USI improves to 12-4 and will take on second seeded Michigan Tech on Sunday evening at 8:30 p.m.