ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's basketball team was unable to overcome Lewis' hot shooting in its 79-68 loss on Saturday afternoon at Neil Carey Arena in Romeoville, Ill.

The Tritons drop to 7-10, 5-4 GLVC while the Flyers improve to 10-7, 6-3 GLVC.

UMSL scored the first points of the game courtesy of a three-pointer from Mayson Quartlebaum but Lewis ran off 16 of the next 18 points to take an early 11-point lead. The Tritons pulled to within 20-14 after a jumper from Quartlebaum with 7:01 left in the opening half but the Flyers used an 11-5 run to build its largest lead of the half at 31-19 after a three-pointer from Beau Frericks.

UMSL finished the half scoring four of the final six points to pull within 10 at the break.

The Tritons were held to just 31 percent (8-for-26) shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes including 3-of-13 three while Lewis connected on 48 percent (12-for-25) of its attempts in the half and was 5-of-12 from beyond the arc.

The Flyers outscored UMSL 27-15 over the first nine-plus minutes of the second half to take its largest lead of the game at 60-38 on a layup from Paxton Warden.

The Tritons climbed back into the game thanks to a 13-0 run to pull within nine at the 6:39 mark but Lewis answered with a 9-4 run to extend its lead back to double digits.

UMSL got three throws from Quartlebaum and a dunk from Troy Glover II to pull within nine with 3:24 left but that was the closest it got as the Flyers scored 10 of the last 18 points in the contest including going 6-for-6 at the foul line to seal the victory.

The Tritons shot the ball better in the second half connecting on 59 percent of their attempts to finish the game at 45.5 percent (25-for-55) from the floor including 9-of-24 from three but shot only 64 percent at the foul line. They had five players reach double figures in scoring in the contest led by Quartlebaum and Emanuel Prospere II with 15 points each. Savon Wykle added 14 points, Matt Enright finished with 12 and Glover II had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Lewis continued its hot shooting in the final 20 minutes connecting on 67 percent of its attempts and finished the game shooting 57 percent (28-for-49) from the field including 11-of-19 from three and shot 92 percent at the foul line. Ryan Renfro led all scorers with 21 points in the contest. Frericks added 16 points while Devon VanderHeydt had 14 points and Gary Solomon chipped in 13 points.

UMSL is back at home this coming Thursday (Jan. 25) as it hosts Missouri S&T at 7:30 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.