KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Connor Niego (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) scored a career-high 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting to lead Lewis University's men's basketball team to a 65-56 win at Truman State on Monday evening at Pershing Arena in Kirksville, Mo. The Flyers improve to 8-6, 6-1 GLVC while the Bulldogs drop to 13-6, 7-4 GLVC.

Lewis got off to slow start missing 10 of its first 12 shots and trailed 11-5 less than five minutes into the game. The Flyers got hot over the next 4:13 going on a 17-3 run while hitting seven of nine field goal attempts to take their largest lead of the half at 22-14 on a three-pointer from Niego. Niego and Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) combined to score 15 points in the run.

Truman answered Lewis' run with an 11-3 run of its own to tie the score at 25 on a jumper by Eric Northweather. Niego put the Flyers back in front with a jumper but Keaton Mitchell hit two free throws to knot the score at 27 with 3:38 left in the first half. It would be the last time the game was tied as Niego scored the final six points of the frame to Lewis a 33-27 lead at the break.

The Flyers got off to a slow start in the second stanza missing eight of their first nine field goal attempts but the Bulldogs weren't much better and were only able to cut Lewis' lead to two points. The Flyers pushed their lead to five but Masen Miller answered with a three to make it 38-36. Bruno Williams (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) and Miller then exchanged three's to keep the margin at five with 12:48 to play.

That would be the closest Truman got the rest of the contest as Marquise Jackson (Macon, Ga./Windsor Academy) hit a jumper in the paint to spark a 9-0 run and give Lewis its largest lead of the contest at 50-39 nearly halfway through the half.

The Bulldogs cut the lead to six on a jumper in the paint by Cade McKnight with less than six minutes to play but Dre Bell (Detroit, Mich./River Rouge) hit a big three on the other end to extend the lead back to nine. However, Truman wasn't done cutting the Flyer lead to four with 4:41 remaining when Dylan Peeters tipped in a miss from Elijah Hazekamp.

Frericks had the dagger though answering with a three and then after the final media timeout Bell was fouled driving to the basket and made both free throws to push the lead back to nine.

Truman cut it to seven points twice in the final three minutes but Niego and Jackson each hit shots in the paint to keep the Bulldogs at bay.

Lewis shot 38 percent (23-for-60) from the floor in the contest including 9-of-21 from three but shot only 63 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded the Bulldogs 37-to-32. The Flyers finished with 15 assists on their 23 made field goals. Niego led all scorers and was joined in double figures by Frericks with 12 points while Bell added seven more.

Truman was held to 40 percent (20-for-50) shooting in the contest, was 6-of-21 from three and shot 59 percent at the foul line. Northweather led the Bulldogs with 16 points while McKnight finished with 11 points.

The two teams will meet again this Thursday (Feb. 3) at 7:30 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena.