ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's men's basketball team shook off a slow start to defeat Illinois Springfield 71-63 on Monday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers improve to 10-7, 8-2 GLVC while the Prairie Stars fall to 9-13, 4-10 GLVC.
Lewis fell behind 7-0 to start the contest and still trailed by nine with 13:27 to play in the first half after a layup from Evan Altman. The Flyers went on a 17-6 run over the next 7:18 to take its first lead of the night on a jumper from
Atakan Sahinkaya (Istanbul, Turkey/Perkiomen School).
UIS came right back to tie the game as Altman hit a jumper before
Connor Niego (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons Township) buried a three from the left wing to give the Flyers a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Lewis' lead grew to seven after a pair of free throws from
Bruno Williams (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) but the Prairie Stars ran off four straight to close to within three with 2:14 left in the half.
That would be the closest they got as the Flyers scored the final seven points of the half highlighted by Williams three from the top of the key with 0:06 left in the stanza.
Lewis extended its lead to as many as 16 after a three-pointer from
Dre Bell (Detroit, Mich./River Rouge) with 7:23 left in the contest but UIS made a late push closing to within eight in the final minute before the Flyers sealed the victory hitting four of six at the foul line for the final margin.
Bell led five Lewis players in double figures with 16 points while Niego added 14, Sahinkaya finished with 12, Williams had 11 and
Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) chipped in with 10. The Flyers shot 46 percent (23-for-50) from the floor in the contest including 5-of-12 from three and shot 83 percent at the foul line. They scored 14 points off of 15 Prairie Star turnovers and had 13 fast break points.
Jack Weber was tied with Bell for the game-high in points with 16 while Altman added 14 and James Kelley had 10 off the bench. UIS shot 42 percent (25-for-59) from the field and were 3-of-25 from downtown and shot 67 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded Lewis 35-31 and outscored them 40-22 in the paint.
The Flyers head to Kansas City on Thursday to take on Rockhurst at 7:30 p.m. at Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse.
