The McKendree Bearcats men's basketball team fell to the Lewis Flyers 62-59 on Wednesday night in the opening round of the GLVC Conference Tournament.

How it Happened
The No. 4 seeded McKendree Bearcats and the No. 5 seeded Lewis Flyers played a closely contested game from the opening tip. The two teams would trade the lead back-and-forth five times in the first 20 minutes. The Bearcats would eventually push the lead to eight with just over three minutes to play in the first half, which would eventually be the largest lead either team would hold on the night.

Just like the first half, the two teams would trade the lead on numerous occasion. No team led by more than six in the final half.

McKendree was trailing by one with 2:37 to play in the game but a Bryson Bultman (Nashville, IL/Nashville) layup would give the home team a lead. The Bearcats would then get a stop on the next possession and had a chance to add to their lead. Bultman would again have a chance to add to the lead but this time his layup just missed. The Flyers then came right back and hit a huge three-pointer to give them the lead for good.

Hot shooting from the Flyers in the second-half ended up being too much for the Bearcats to overcome. Lewis would connect on 60 percent of its shots in the half and would outscore McKendree 36-16 in the paint.

Inside the Box Score
-  Jacob Donaldson (Effingham, IL/Effingham) led the way for the Bearcats with 14 points. The senior had a perfect night shooting the ball going five-for-five from the field, including four-for-four from behind the arc.
-  Alijah Thomas (Des Moines, IA/Hoover) and Brendon Gooch (Belleville, IL/Althoff ) chipped in with 11 points each.
-  Bryson Bultman (Nashville, IL/Nashville) led the team in rebounds with seven and also dished out four assists.
-  McKendree attempted the second most threes in a game this season with 35 attempts. The Bearcats converted on 13 of those.  

Up Next
The Bearcats end a very successful 2020-21 season with a record of 10-9 which included an appearance in the postseason for the first time since 2015-16.