ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Lewis University men's basketball team won its second Great Lakes Valley Conference game of the year, 86-66 over Maryville Sunday (Jan. 4). Arius Alijosius (Riverside, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield) scored 40 points to lead Lewis (4-9 overall, 2-3 Great Lakes Valley Conference).

IMPACT PLAYERS
Alijosius made 14-of-19 field goals (73.7%), including 9-of-13 from beyond the arc (69.2%) en route to his 40-point performance. Cale Cosme (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) added 15 points and 11 assists, while Ryan Hall (Kettering, Ohio/Kettering Fairmont) scored 13 points. Timofei Komissarov (St. Petersburg, Russia/GUTID) and Reid Loewen (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada/CTA West) had six rebounds each for the Flyers.

Noah Courtney scored 18 points to lead the Saints.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Alijosius came out red hot, hitting a pair of three-pointers in the first 1:15 of the game. His third three-pointer came less than three minutes into the game to give the Flyers an 11-8 advantage.

Maryville pulled ahead 17-15 and grabbed as big as a six-point lead at 25-19. From there, Lewis would tie the game at 29-29 before the Saints built the lead back to 35-29. The Saints held a 35-33 lead at the break.

Lewis scored the first six points of the second half, as a four-point play from Alijosius gave the Flyers a 39-35 lead. After a Maryville basket with 15:55 remaining to pull to within 43-41, Lewis began to pull away.

Drew Fisher (Los Angeles, Calif./Crespi Carmelite High School) and Alijosius hit back-to-back three pointers to make it 49-41. The lead would then fluctuate between six and 12 points for the next six minutes until a layup by Alijosius put the lead into double figures for good at 66-56 with 6:53 remaining.

A 9-0 run put the game away for good as a Hall three-pointer made it 81-62 with 3:25 left.

GAME NOTES

• Prior to today, the last time a Flyer scored at least 40 points in a game was Nov. 24, 2015, when current Cleveland Cavalier Max Strus scored 52 against Northwood.
• It was the second time this year the Flyers scored 86 points, doing so Dec. 13 against Wayne State in an 86-83 win.
• The Flyers scored a season-best 53 points in the second half, shooting 17-for-26 (65.4%) from the floor.

UP NEXT
The Flyers travel to Fayette, Iowa, to take on Upper Iowa Saturday (Jan. 10) at 3 p.m.