ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's men's basketball team defeated Southwest Baptist 89-79 in a clash of GLVC division leaders on Saturday afternoon at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers improve to 13-8, 11-3 GLVC while the Bearcats drop to 19-5, 13-4 GLVC.

Lewis led throughout the contest as it opened the game on a 12-2 run behind five points from Marquise Jackson (Macon, Ga./Windsor Academy) while Bruno Williams (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) added three points and Connor Niego (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) and Dre Bell (Detroit, Mich./River Rouge) had two points apiece.

The Flyers extended that lead to as many as 20 at 33-13 after two free throws from Williams with less than six minutes to play in the opening half.

Southwest Baptist cut Lewis' lead to 13 points after a three-pointer from Rico Clouden but wouldn't get any closer than that the rest of the half as the Flyers closed the half scoring 13 of the final 20 points highlighted by Bell's three from the top of the key just before the end of stanza to take a 50-31 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Bearcats opened the second half on a 12-2 run to cut the Lewis lead to single digits but the Flyers countered with an 11-2 run of its own over a four minute stretch to extend its lead back to 19 at 63-44 on a three-pointer from Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove).

Lewis took its largest lead of the contest at 82-61 with 5:21 remaining when Williams got free for a layup.

SBU would outscore the Flyers 18-7 over the remainder of the contest to make the final margin 10 points as Mitch Ganote hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Lewis shot 54 percent (29-for-54) from the contest including 10-of-20 from three and shot 81 percent at the charity stripe. Williams led four Flyers in double figures with 19 points while Frericks added 17 off the bench, Niego chipped in with 16 and Kawanise Wilkins (Chicago, Ill./Farragut) finished with 10 off the bench. Niego also pulled down eight rebounds.

The Bearcats were held to just 44 percent (25-of-57) in the contest and were 9-of-26 from three and shot 77 percent at the foul line. Ganote led all scorers with 30 points while RJ Crawford added 14 and Quinn Nelson finished with 11 points. Ganote also had a game-high nine rebounds.

Lewis plays its final home game of the regular season this Monday (Feb. 21) as they host McKendree at 7:30 p.m. It'll be Senior Night as the team will honor Niego before the start of the game.