ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The Lewis University men's basketball team defeated McKendree 70-62 Monday (Feb. 21) in its regular season home finale at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers improve to 14-8 overall, 12-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while McKendree falls to 13-9 overall, 9-9 in the GLVC.

The Flyers scored the first six points of the game on baskets by Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove), Atakan Sahinkaya (Istanbul, Turkey/Perkiomen School) and Connor Niego (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) as it took nearly four minutes for the Bearcats to get on the board. The Flyers built an 11-4 lead with 14:27 left in the first half after a Frericks three-pointer.
 
McKendree battled back with a 9-1 run to take a 13-12 lead, its first of the game with 10:49 left in the half. Frericks gave the Flyers the lead right back with a three-pointer on the ensuing possession.
 
The Bearcats regained the lead at 20-19 but again Lewis was quick to take the lead back on a Niego layup. This time they would not relinquish it.
 
An 8-2 spurt pushed the lead to 29-22 as the lead eventually grew to 37-28 at the half after a pair of Frericks free throws, giving him 14 in the half.
 
Frericks also opened the scoring in the second half as a layup pushed the lead into double digits at 39-28. A three-point play by Sahinkaya followed by free throws by Kawanise Wilkins (Chicago, Ill./Farragut) pushed the lead to 14 points at 47-33 with 12:44 remaining.
 
Frericks drilled another three-pointer with 10:42 left in the game to make it 50-36 before McKendree made its run. A 14-3 run by the Bearcats over the next five minutes saw them climb to within three points at 53-50 with 5:43 remaining.

A Bearcat three-pointer cut the deficit to a point at 54-53 before a three-point play by Niego pushed the lead back to four.

The two teams traded baskets until a Bruno Williams (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) layup at the 3:06 mark was followed by a Niego layup at the 1:12 mark to make it a 63-57 lead for the Flyers. 

A McKendree basket cut the lead to four, but Frericks and Dre Bell (Detroit, Mich./River Rouge) each sunk a pair of free throws to build the lead to eight points with 28 seconds left. The Bearcats hit a three-pointer with 21 seconds left to make it 67-62, but a Sahinkaya free throw was followed by a missed Bearcat three pointer to end their chances.

Frericks led the way with 21 points and three steals, while Niego had 20 points and 11 rebounds and Sahinkaya added 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Flyers had a 40-29 rebounding edge overall.

Lewis shot 47.9 percent (23-of-48) for the contest, while McKendree shot 38.6 percent (22-of-57).

The Flyers travel to St. Louis Thursday (Feb. 24) to take on Maryville for a 7:30 p.m. tip.