Jan. 4, 2007

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Brandon Dagans and Jason Genova sparked a furious second-half Lewis comeback Thursday night that resulted in a 71-66 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory for the Flyers over Bellarmine.

Lewis improved to 8-5 overall, 3-2 in the GLVC and 7-0 at home with its third consecutive win. Bellarmine, which saw its three-game winning streak snapped, fell to 6-6 overall and 2-2 in the league.

Behind 15 points from Matt Otte and 10 from Dzaflo Larkai, Bellarmine took a 41-28 lead into intermission. The Knights, who outscored the Flyers 21-12 in the final 6:46 of the opening period, would have led by 16 were it not for a Genova 3-pointer in the closing seconds.

Lewis opened the second half with a 14-6 spurt that sliced the Bellarmine advantage to 47-42. The Knights stretched their lead back to nine points on three occasions before the Flyers embarked on a decisive 14-0 outburst.

Dagans began the run with two free throws and a 3-pointer. A Genova trey pulled the Flyers to within a point, and Dagans' basket on the ensuing possession put Lewis ahead for good, 59-58, at the 4:10 mark. Dagans followed with another bucket and two free throws for a 63-58 Flyer lead with 2:15 left.

Jamie Jackson hit a 3-pointer and Otte scored underneath on Bellarmine's next two possessions. But Genova, who played all 40 minutes, answered with a 3-pointer each time to keep Bellarmine at bay, and the Knights drew no closer than four points the rest of the way.

Dagans and Genova finished with 26 and 25 points, respectively, and each player scored 16 second-half points. Genova's scoring total was his best of the season, and his seven 3-pointers (7-of-13) eclipsed his previous team season high of five treys.

Dagans added eight assists and six rebounds, Stephan Bolt had 10 points and a team-best nine rebounds and Matthew Marino contributed six assists and four rebounds.

Otte led Bellarmine with 17 points but scored just two after halftime, while Larkai added just four points to his first-half total to finish with 14. Jackson scored 14 points, and Adam Brames led all players with nine assists.

Bellarmine earned a 38-29 rebounding advantage, with Larkai (nine), Brames (seven) and Otte (six) leading the way.

The Flyers shot .560 in the second half, including a 7-of-14 effort from 3-point range, to finish at .462 for the game. Bellarmine connected at a .485 clip in the first half but stumbled to .346 in the second half, including 3-of-14 (.214) from beyond the arc, to finish at .424.

Lewis tied its season high of 12 3-pointers (12-of-27, .444) and tied its season low of 10 turnovers. The Flyers committed only two turnovers in the second half.

Lewis hosts Northern Kentucky Saturday at 3 p.m.