Lewis Flies Past Rivermen

UMSL Falls to Nationally-Ranked Lewis 82-62

St. Louis, Mo. – The UMSL men’s basketball team ran into a tough Lewis squad that entered the game ranked 25th nationally going into the week, and the Rivermen came up short in an 82-62 loss to the Flyers.

Lewis scored the first goal of the game, and UMSL responded with a jumper by Ike Attah (Port Harcourt, Nigeria) to tie the game in the first minute. UMSL kept the game close and after a jumper by Kevin Nordmann (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves) gave the Rivermen a 9-8 lead five minutes into the game. The Flyers took off from there and never looked back, scoring the next 11 points to jump out to a ten-point lead at 19-9. UMSL would get no closer than eight points the rest of the half as Lewis opened up a 21-point advantage, 46-25, at halftime. The second half was much of the same, as Lewis would build up a lead of 31 points with 15:56 remaining, and cruised from there for the 82-62 victory.

Jonathan Griffin (St. Louis, Mo./Normandy) led UMSL with 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in the game. Kevin Nordmann added 14 points and Tim Blankenship (Cardwell, Mo./Senath-Hornersville) came off the bench to score a career high 10 points on the day. UMSL falls to 4-7 on the season and 1-4 in the GLVC. The Rivermen will be on the road next weekend with conference games at Saint Joseph’s and at Indianapolis.