Men’s Basketball: Lewis fends off Wisconsin-Parkside
By Dick Goss dgoss@stmedianetwork.com February 28, 2013 10:52PM
Updated: April 2, 2013 6:24AM
Gee, you would almost think it was a special night for Lewis senior guard David Bryant.
The only senior on coach Scott Trost’s roster, Bryant exploded for 16 points in the second half, 23 for the game, to shoot the Flyers to a huge 68-61 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over Wisconsin-Parkside in the regular-season finale Thursday night at Neil Carey Arena.
Parkside (19-7, 14-4), already had clinched the GLVC East title but now hits the GLVC Tournament on a two-game losing streak. Lewis (18-8, 12-6) assured itself a home game at 2 p.m. Sunday against Quincy in the opening round of the tournament. The top four seeds will receive byes, and the next four seeds will host weekend games, with the final eight advancing to the tournament at Evansville next weekend.
“I had the pull-up three on that first one,” Bryant recalled of his second-half explosion. “I didn’t think it was going in but it did. Then I chucked up the next one and it went in. It was all pretty exciting.”
“Our offense was a little stagnant, and then Bryant hit those two threes,” Trost said. “David refused to lose. You could say with his attitude, he willed us to win.”
Bryant, who has played in every game in his four-year career, tied the school record for career three-pointers. But it wasn’t all his doing on this night.
“It was a good team win,” Trost said. Kyle Nelson (12 points) had a nice game inside and Jeff Jarosz (16 points, 6 rebounds) got to the paint and made some plays.
“Defensively, we took a team that was averaging 77 points a game in the conference and held them to 61. The kids made a commitment to guard them.”
Even Jeremy Saffold, Parkside’s senior forward from Homewood-Flossmoor who scored 30 points against tough defense. He hit 10-of-15 shots, 4-of-7 threes and all six free throws.
“Saffold is a player-of-the-year type,” Trost said. “It seemed like every shot he made was a tough one.”
It was a game of runs. Lewis led 26-11 with 5:20 left in the half, only to see it shrink to 28-23 at the break.With Saffold leading the charge, the Rangers went ahead 40-39 early in the second half, but Bryant scored 12 points in a 19-7 Lewis run to restore a somewhat comfortable lead.
