Nov. 14, 2004

Box Score

CHAMPAIGN - Just as any other head coach would feel, Lewis University's Kyle Green was not happy to drop a 92-61 decision to defending Big Ten champion Illinois Sunday in the last of the Flyers' three exhibition games against NCAA Division I opponents.

Still, Green was upbeat about his first Lewis team just three days prior to the Flyers' season opener against crosstown rival St. Francis at Neil Carey Arena.

"Our players have been talking about the Illinois game for quite awhile, and we've been getting better leading up to it," Green said. "It was an invaluable opportunity for us to measure ourselves against one of the top teams in the country, and I learned that we're a pretty tough team that plays hard."

Illinois learned the same thing in the early going. After the Illini gained an 8-3 lead, Anthony Scala buried two 3-pointers and Pat Monaghan added a trey to give Lewis a 12-10 edge with 12:57 remaining.

Steve Turner broke a 12-all tie two minutes later with a layup and pulled Lewis even at 17 with a 3-pointer at the 9:33 mark.

Meanwhile, Illinois was ineffective against the Flyers' zone defense. The Illini did not hit from 3-point range until Rich McBride connected with 10:36 to play.

"The way we competed the first 10 minutes was exciting," Green said. "We did a great job executing our game plan, which was to make Illinois take 25 to 30 3-point shots for the game. If they made them, they made them."

Unfortunately, that's what Illinois started to do. Seven of the Illini's last nine buckets of the half were from beyond the arc as they built a 42-23 halftime lead.

There were some positive things for Lewis in the second half. The Flyers were outrebounded by the much-taller Illini by a narrow 21-20 margin in the final stanza, with nine of those 20 rebounds on the offensive end, and cut their turnover total from 11 in the first half to just eight in the second.

Also, Lewis was 12 of 15 at the foul line in the final 20 minutes and shot 70.6 percent (12 of 17) for the game, the best accuracy rate in its three exhibition contests.

"I was happy with the way we finished the game," Green said.

John Loeffelholz (12 points), Turner (10) and Scala (9) were the Flyers' leading scorers. DeAndre Williams registered team highs of six rebounds and six assists.

Lewis and St. Francis tip off Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Flyers host North Park Saturday at 7:30 in their homecoming game.