Lewis Athletics
Luke Rinne, Director of Athletic Communications
ROMEOVILLE – Lewis University’s men’s basketball team dropped its season opener to the defending Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) champion Truman State Bulldogs 86-65 on Friday afternoon at Neil Carey Arena.
Senior guard/forward Trevian Bell (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West) finished with a game-high 21 points while true freshman guard Beau Frericks (Cary, Ill./Cary Grove) scored 19 in his first career game. Junior forward Atakan Sahinkaya (Istanbul, Turkey/Perkiomen School) and senior forward Brandon McCombs (Jacksonville, Ill./Jacksonville) had nine rebounds each.
Cade McKnight led the way with 18 points for the Bulldogs and Dylan Peeters had a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards. Masen Miller was second on the team with 15 points in his first career game and second with 32 minutes played.
McKnight got Truman on the board just over a minute into the game with a bucket, and Miller followed with a triple to give the Bulldogs a 5-0 lead. Lewis would get the next six to take the lead and the teams went back and forth for most of the half. With Truman up 14-12, Miller drained another three and then following a make from the foul line by Miller and a layup by Alex McQunn; Truman led 20-12. Lewis fought back to tie the game at 24, and then took a 27-26 lead after a three pointer by Frericks. Hunter Strait made two from the foul line to put the Bulldogs back in the lead, and then Miller put Truman up 31-27 but Frericks made a three at the buzzer to answer and make it 31-30 heading into the intermission.
Elijah Hazekamp opened the second half scoring with a layup for Truman to put the Bulldogs up by three. Lewis would come back to grab a 36-35 lead, but a triple from Hazekamp at the 16:48 mark put Truman back in the lead. At the 15:32 mark a layup by Bell put Lewis up 43-40, but four straight free throws from Hazekamp put Truman back on top as it began a 14-4 run for the Bulldogs. Turner Scottcapped off the run with a three pointer to give Truman a 54-47 lead with 11:23 to go. Lewis would not get closer than five the rest of the game as Truman pulled away for the victory.
Bell and Frericks were the lone Flyers to reach double figures in scoring while the Bulldogs had six players reach double figures.
Truman held a 37-to-34 advantage on the boards and outscored Lewis 17-to-2 in points off of turnovers.
The Flyers finished the game shooting 39.7 percent (25-for-63) from the field, were 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from three and shot 64 percent at the foul line.
The Bulldogs shot 65 percent (17-for-26) from the field in the second half and finished the game making 48.3 percent (29-of-60) of their attempts. They were 11-for-27 (40.7 percent) from three and shot 89.5 percent (17-for-19) at the foul line.
Lewis is back in action on Sunday hosting Quincy at 3:15 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena.