University of St. Francis (III.)

JOLIET, Ill. --- Four University of St. Francis men's basketball players scored in double figures, but it was not enough to offset a first half in which Lewis University shot 70.4 percent from the field to build a 51-33 lead at the break en route to an 86-72 victory over the Saints Thursday (Dec. 12) night at the Pat Sullivan Center.
 

Cole Micek (SR/Los Angeles, Calif.) had the hot hand for the Saints finishing with five three-pointers in nine attempts and 9-of-14 shooting overall to total a season-high 24 points. Lewis (4-3) offset that mark with a game-high 25 points from Anthony D'Avanzo, who also sank five treys in eight attempts. He went 7-of-12 from the field overall as well as a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line.
 

The Flyers also picked up a solid effort from Adam Pischke, who registered 15 points, six assists and four steals, and Dre Bell (13 points).
 

USF's other double-figure scorers were Malik Bailey (SR/Tutwiler, Miss.) (13 points), Eric Ting (JR/Taoyuan, Taiwan) (11) and Mitch Kwasigroch (Manhattan, Ill.) (11).  Ting also produced a game-high seven assists.
 

Both teams came out firing the ball in the opening 7:35 combining for 43 points in that span with Lewis one point better (22-21) up to that juncture. From there, the Flyers extended that advantage to double digits (38-28) for the first time at the 4:30 mark. The Saints got it back to seven points (40-33) with just under three minutes remaining in the half before Lewis closed the half on an 11-0 run to take the 51-33 lead into the break. 
 

The guests then put up the first eight points of the second half to gain their biggest lead of the night (59-33). The Saints would work that down to 12 points (70-58) with 8:37 to play, but would get no closer the rest of the night.
 

Lewis finished the game shooting 56.6 percent from the field (30-of-53) fueled by a 12-of-23 reading from beyond the three-point arc. The Saints, who also shot well in the opening 20 minutes (13-of-23, 56.5 percent), finished at the .500 mark (25-of-50) for the game, while being perfect at the foul line (12-of-12).
 

Up Next

The Saints (4-5) return to Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play Saturday when they travel to University Park to face Governors State University in a rematch of last year's CCAC Tournament championship game. Tipoff is 3 pm.