Box Score
Lewis University got off to a hot start and held off a Ranger rally before pulling away with a 76-59 victory on Monday night in Romeoville, Ill. UW-Parkside trimmed a 17-point deficit down to four but couldn't get over the hump in falling to 8-7 on the season (1-6 GLVC). The Flyers improved to 11-4 overall and 3-4 in the league.
Leneal Harris led the Ranger attack again with 16 points including a 3-of-6 night from the three-point line.
Conrad Krutwig joined him in double figures with ten.
Chris McClellan led Lewis with 18 points. Lonnie Lawrence provided a big boost for the home team finishing with 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
The Flyers were red-hot out of the gates jumping out to a 26-9 lead on a three by McClellan with 11:27 left in the first half. From there however, Parkside appeared to settle in and answered with a big run of their own.
A 16-3 burst pulled the Rangers within four with 4:39 left in the first half. Twelve of those points came consecutively keyed by back-to-back threes by Harris. Krutwig and
Steve Jaskulske followed up with layups to make it 29-25.
Three free throws in the final minute helped Lewis to a 40-30 halftime lead scoring 11 of the final 16 points.
The Flyers stretched the lead back out to 12 but the Rangers were able to get within six on two separate occasions.
Sam Katula had a pair of lay-ups, each getting Parkside back within a half-dozen,
Unfortunately the Rangers were able to get no closer as Lewis responded with eight quick points to stretch the lead back to double digits.
The Rangers shot 40.0% from the field compared to a 50.0% night for the Flyers. Lewis grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and converted those into 22 second chance points. Parkside recorded 14 offensive boards of their own but could only turn those into six points.
The Rangers will be back on the road Thursday when they head to Highland Heights, Kentucky to take on Northern Kentucky University. The Norse were ranked eighth in the country in last week's national poll. Note a special game time of 6:30 p.m. central on Thursday evening.
