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Romeoville, Ill. - Basketball coaches often preach that it takes a total team effort in order for their squad to be successful.

Such was the case for the sixth-seeded Lewis University men's basketball team, as all nine players recorded points and the Flyer bench outscored Quincy's 26-0, en route to the 73-65 win over the 11th seeded Hawks in the opening round of the 2013 Deaconess Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at Neil Carey Arena on Sunday (March 3) afternoon.

The Flyer reserves were led by junior guard Nick Valla (Tinley Park, Ill./Marist), who chipped in nine points and three rebounds. Five of Valla's points came during a 16-3 Lewis second-half run, that helped extend a Flyer one-point lead to 14 and put the game out of reach for the visiting Hawks.

"When our bench contributes like they did today, we're a much better team," Lewis head men's basketball coach Scott Trost said. "We're going to need those kinds of performances as we go forward."

With the victory, Lewis improves to 19-8 on the campaign and will take on a yet-to-be determined opponent in the GLVC Quarterfinals on Thursday (March 7).  Quincy ends its season with a record of 12-15.

Lewis senior guard David Bryant (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) topped the Flyers with 18 points, including two three-pointers, while backcourt mates Jeff Jarosz (Lyons, Ill./Morton) and Ryan Jackson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield) each added 11 in the victory.

As a team, Lewis shot 53.1% (26-for-49) from the field and knocked down 84.2% (16-for-19) of their free throw attempts. This is the fourth time in Lewis' last five games that the Flyers have made at least 50.0% of their field goal attempts.

"I'm happy for our guys," Trost said. "Hopefully we have quite a few more games left, but once you're in any tournament, 'Survive and Advance' is the mantra we live by.

"We didn't play great today, but we found a way to win."

Quincy junior guard Chris Babbitt poured in a game-high 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting, including four three-pointers, while freshman guard Nate Des Jardins also connected for four trifectas and finished with 14 points. As a team, Quincy converted 45.5% (10-for-22) of their three-point attempts.