ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The Lewis University men's basketball team picked up its first Great Lakes Valley Conference win Thursday (Dec. 1), defeating Truman St. 68-60 at Neil Carey Arena. Atakan Sahinkaya (Istanbul, Turkey/Troy State) tallied 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the Flyers.

TEAM RECORDS
Truman St. (3-6, 0-3 GLVC) | Lewis (4-3, 1-2 GLVC)

LEWIS LEADERS
Points: Sahinkaya (19), Jamere Hill (Joliet, Ill./Toledo) (13), Terry Ford (Toledo, Ohio/Mineral Area JC) (12), Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) (10)
Rebounds: Devon Vanderheydt (Washington, Ill./Washington) (9), Sahinkaya (9)
Assists: Hill (3)
Steals: Hill (3)
Blocks: Cem Kirciman (Bursa, Turkey/Wisconsin-Green Bay) (1), Ford (1)

SUMMARY
It took nearly three minutes to get the first points on the board as Hill opened the scoring with a jumper in the paint with 17:15 remaining the first half. Hill also scored the second Flyer basket as they jumped out to a 7-1 lead before the Bulldogs connected on their first field goal with 14:46 left in the first half.
 
Five straight points from Frericks extended the Flyer lead to 14-6 and a three-pointer by Sahinkaya made it 17-8 before seven straight points from Truman. Sahinkaya stopped the run with a three-pointer, which started an 11-0 Flyer run, which concluded with a second Sahinkaya three to give the Flyers a 28-15 lead with 8:13 left in the half.
 
Lewis would maintain a double digit lead for much of the rest of the half and a shot before the half by Austin Boucher (Fort Wayne, Ind./Don Bosco Prep) gave the Flyers a 38-27 lead at the half.
 
The Bulldogs opened the second half with back-to-back three-pointers to pull within five points at 38-33 and chipped in further to the Flyer lead, getting to within a point at 42-41 with 13:41 left.
 
Again it was Sahinkaya who stopped the run as a jumper put the Flyers up three and then his layup made it a five-point advantage. The Flyers built their lead back up to 12 at 62-50 with 3:43 remaining on a 7-0 run off a three-pointer by Frericks and a pair of baskets by Hill.
 
Truman would get no closer than eight points the rest of the game as the Flyers hit six free throws down the stretch.
 
Lewis outrebounded Truman 40-27 in the contest.  The Flyers shot 45.3 percent (24-of-53) from the field, while the Bulldogs shot 43.4 percent (23-of-53).

UP NEXT
The Flyers play host to William Jewell Saturday (Dec. 3) at 3 p.m.