ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The University of Southern Indiana men's basketball team was downed by Lewis University in the 2017-18 regular season finale, 73-52, Saturday afternoon in Romeoville, Illinois. USI finished the regular season 20-10 overall and 11-7 in the GLVC, while Lewis completes its schedule 15-13 overall, 10-8 GLVC.
 
With the loss, USI will likely be fifth seed in the upcoming GLVC Tournament, slated for March 2-4 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois. If the Screaming Eagles are the fifth seed, they would play the fourth-seed in Friday's quarterfinal contest slated to start at 2:30 p.m.
 
The full GLVC Tournament bracket will be announced tonight, following the conclusion of the University of Missouri-St. Louis-Maryville University 7:30 p.m. match-up. The bracket announcement and information, including live coverage links and information on tickets, can be found at GLVCSports.com.
 
The Eagles found themselves down by double-digits at halftime, 35-25, after the Flyer went on a 17-6 run in the final eight minutes of the first half. USI held a brief three-point lead, 17-14, with nine minutes gone in the half before the Lewis run.
 
USI senior forward Julius Rajala (Helsinki, Finland) led the Eagles offensive attack during the first 20 minutes with 10 points on five-of-six from the field. The Eagles, as a team, went the final 2:37 of the half without a bucket and missed all eight of their attempts from beyond the arc.
 
USI maintained pace with Lewis early in the second half and was able to shrink the halftime deficit to six points twice by the 13:11 mark. Those six-point deficits would be as close as the Eagles would come to the Flyer, who would post their largest margin of 21 points in the final score.
 
As a team, USI could not get on track offensively in the contest, shooting 38.6 from the field (22-57), 7.7 percent from long range (1-13), and 46.7 percent from the stripe (7-15). The Eagles and the Flyers battled to a 32-32 draw on the boards.
 
Individually, Rajala added four second half points and finished the game with a team-high 14. The senior forward was seven-of-11 from the field in the contest.
 
Freshman guard Mateo Rivera (Indianapolis, Indiana) followed Rajala in the scoring column with 11 points on three-of-six from the field and five-of-seven from the stripe.