ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Lewis University men's basketball team advances to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament Championship after a 86-76 victory against No. 2 seed Upper Iowa Saturday (March 9).
LEWIS LEADERS
Points: Gary Solomon (Eastpointe, Mich.) (21),
Cem Kirciman (Bursa, Turkey/Wisconsin-Green Bay) (16),
Rob Stroud (Danville, Ill.) (16),
Paxton Warden (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West) (12),
Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) (10)
Rebounds: Solomon (14),
Devon Vanderheydt (Washington, Ill./Washington) (9)
Assists: Vanderheydt (5)
Steals: Kirciman (1), Solomon (1), Stroud (1)
Blocks: Stroud (3)
RECORDS
(3) Lewis 18-12 | (2) Upper Iowa 21-9
SUMMARY
Both teams traded baskets before Vanderheydt knocked down a three-pointer to take an early 5-2 lead. UIU got the next basket then Lewis scored seven straight points including five from Solomon to make it 12-4 Flyers.
Moments later, Stroud extended the Lewis lead out to 20-9, then the Peacocks recorded three straight buckets to make it a two-possession game. Solomon gave the Flyers a 35-24 lead with 1:34 to go in the half.
UIU closed out the half with the last eight points including a half-court heave at the buzzer. Lewis shot 47 percent (14-30) from the floor in the first half while holding the Peacocks to 38 (11-29).
Both teams traded baskets to start the second half and lasted through the first 10 minutes. Warden knocked down a clutch three-pointer which gave Lewis a 60-52 lead with 9:21 to play in the game.
Stroud converted on a three-point play which made it 65-52 Lewis with 7:42 remaining in the game. This capped off an 11-0 run over a span of four minutes for Lewis, giving it one of its biggest leads of the night.
Warden hit another clutch three-pointer to make it 75-62 with over four minutes remaining. The Peacocks tried to crawl back and made it a single-digit deficit (75-66) with 3:52 to play.
Kirciman hit the dagger for Lewis which gave the Flyers a 82-68 lead with under two minutes to play. Lewis was able to hold on and win the contest 86-76.
The Flyers shot 53.3 percent (16-30) in the second half which put them at 50% for the game while Lewis held the Peacocks to 40.3 percent (25-63) including 6-23 from deep.
UP NEXT
Lewis men's basketball will be back for the GLVC Tournament Finals on Sunday (March 10) against No. 5 seed William Jewell at 3:30 p.m. CT following the women's basketball title game which will feature the Flyers' women's squad facing Drury.
