MILWAUKEE -- Never mind the final score of Lewis University's men's basketball exhibition game against NCAA Division I Marquette University Wednesday night.

First-year Lewis head coach Kyle Green saw plenty of positives in the way his team performed in the 96-62 loss at Marquette's Al McGuire Center.

"I'm proud of our team," said Green, who served as a Marquette assistant coach last season. "Our players were looking forward to the challenge, they wanted to compete and they played hard. I liked our attitude and effort."

Playing the first of three exhibition games against Division I teams, the Flyers were far from intimidated from the opening tip. In fact, Lewis held leads of 5-4, 16-15 and 20-19 on the strength of three Anthony Scala 3-pointers and five points from John Loeffelholz in the early going.

Although Marquette took the lead for good, 21-20, at the 12:36 mark, the Flyers held tough and kept the Golden Eagles' advantage in single digits for most of the remainder of the first half. Marquette led 45-34 at the break.

Marquette limited Lewis to just six field goals in the second half, but the Flyer offense continued to attack and earned 26 free throw attempts. The Flyers finished the game with 37 attempts (21 made) to Marquette's 22 tries (14 made).

Lewis also fared better in the turnover department, committing just 12 while forcing Marquette into 19 giveaways.

Loeffelholz led the Flyers with 20 points, Scala finished with 16, Dustin Warfield scored nine and Randy Wright tallied seven. Warfield led the rebounding effort with five, four of which came on the offensive glass.

Wright and DeAndre Williams had four assists each and Warfield added three. Scala added three steals, with Steve Turner - who was limited to 14 minutes because of early foul trouble -- and Pat Monaghan notching two steals apiece.

"It was just one of those nights for Steve," Green said. "He's one of our leaders and one of the top talents in the GLVC, and I know he'll have some big games for us."

Marquette's Travis Diener led all players with 29 points (6 of 9 from 3-point range) and 13 assists, while Dameon Mason scored 16 points.

"This was a great starting place for us," Green said. "I believe we can take a lot from this game and be better for having played it.

"As we pulled up to the building, it almost felt as though I was coming back to work. But when I got off the bus I looked around and saw my own team, and that was exciting.

"It was a great opportunity to show our players, `This is where I'm coming from, this is how I want us to play.' I'm confident they will respond to that in a positive way."

The Flyers played without senior swingman Antoine Joiner, a projected starter, because of an injury. Joiner is expected to resume practice Friday and hopefully will be ready for the Nov. 12 exhibition game at Bradley.