ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's men's basketball team fell to a hot shooting Truman State team 89-76 on Thursday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers drop to 8-7, 6-2 GLVC while the Bulldogs move to 14-6, 8-4 GLVC.

Lewis opened the game on a 17-8 run to take their largest lead 8:09 into the contest. Truman ran off eight straight to get within one after a layup by Keaton Mitchell 1:46 later.

The Flyers extended their lead to five on a jumper by Connor Niego (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) but the Bulldogs countered with a 7-2 run to take its first lead of the half at 31-28 on a three-pointer by Cade McKnight.

Lewis momentarily tied at 33 on a three-pointer by Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) but Truman answered scoring seven of the next 10 points to take its largest lead of the half at 40-36 on a three-pointer from Elijah Hazekamp.

The Flyers got back-to-back buckets from Kawanise Wilkins (Chicago, Ill./Farragut) and Marquise Jackson (Macon, Ga./Windsor Academy) to even things at 40 but McKnight got loose and scored a layup with 0:33 remaining in the half allowing the Bulldogs to retake the lead.

Bruno Williams (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) gave Lewis a 43-42 halftime lead knocking down a three from the left corner with 0:05 left in the stanza.

Truman opened the second half on a 12-2 run as it knocked down five of its first six shots to build a nine-point lead less than three minutes in.

That lead eventually grew to 13 halfway through the frame after Dylan Peeters converted an old fashioned three-point play.

Lewis made a run over the next 2:21 cutting the Bulldog lead to 72-66 on a layup from Anthony Sayles Jr. (Evanston, Ill./Notre Dame College Prep) but that would be the closest they got as Peeters hit another jumper and then after a Flyer miss, Hunter Strait hit a three in the left corner to extend the lead back to double digits with 6:38 remaining.

Lewis cut it to eight a couple of times in the final 6:19 but were unable to overcome Truman's shooting as the Dogs shot 71.4 percent from the floor in the second half including 5-of-9 from three to build its largest lead of the game at 89-73 after a layup from Peeters.

Sayles Jr. hit a three-pointer in the final 0:30 for the final margin.

The Flyers shot 51.7 percent (31-for-60) from the floor, were 7-of-19 from three and shot 88 percent at the foul line. They turned 18 Bulldog turnovers into 25 points. Niego led Lewis with 21 points while Williams added 15 points and Frericks added 11 off the bench.

Truman finished the contest shooting 70.4 percent (38-for-54) from the field, was 10-of-18 from three and shot 75 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded the Flyers 29-16 and had 32 assists on its 38 made field goals. McKnight finished with a game-high 26 points while Hazekamp added 21 points, Peeters chipped in with 13 points and Eric Northweather and Masen Miller had 10 points apiece.

Lewis continues its three-game homestand on Saturday afternoon hosting Quincy at 3 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena. The Hawks defeated Illinois Springfield 80-74 on Thursday evening.