ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - For the first time in nearly 24 years, the Truman State University men's basketball team is 3-0 in conference play. Thursday night at Lewis, the Bulldogs made it eight wins in the last nine games including four straight overall and three in a row against the Flyers. Thanks to a 19-2 run late in the second half, the Purple and White continued their hot stretch of play with the nine-point victory.

Truman (8-5, 3-0 GLVC) handed Lewis its first home loss (5-0 prior) and snapped the Flyers' seven-game winning streak. On the other side, Lewis fell to 8-2 on the season, including 1-1 in league play, and was held to its second-lowest offensive output of the year (59 at Northern Michigan). Prior to last season, Truman had never beaten Lewis (0-5), but the Bulldogs have won the two teams' last three meetings.

After scoring a combined 19 points in his first two games of the season, Brodric Thomas (pictured) has poured in at least 20 points in four of his last five games to up his season average from just 9.5 to 18.6. In those last five outings, Thomas is putting up 22.2 per and if he qualified, his 18.6 season average would rank fifth in the league. Thursday, the redshirt junior scored a season-high 28 to go with 10 rebounds (seventh career double-double), three assists, one block, and a steal. Nineteen of those 28 points came in the second half and Thomas converted on all 13 of his free throw attempts.

Also reaching double-figures for Truman were Nathan Messer with 18 on six three-pointers and Turner Scott with 14 on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor and a free throw. For Messer, those six triples are his most of the season and highest in nearly two years. The big man, Cade McKnight, dished out a team-high four assists and pulled down a Truman best 11 rebounds while Jacob Socha stuffed two shot attempts.

In the beginning, Messer got the scoring started with a trey, which opened a hot start for Truman with 17 of the first 28 points and a 17-9 lead at the 13:35 mark. Lewis pulled within six twice (17-11 and 19-13) but the Bulldogs later used a 7-2 spurt to take their biggest lead of the half at 12, 31-19. However, the Flyers ended the period with 12 of the final 15 points to cut the margin to three, 34-31, at the break.

Out of the locker room, the home team rattled off six of the first eight points to take its first and only lead, 37-36, before the night's only tie, 37-37. Truman then began to really assert itself with 25 of the next 32 points for its biggest advantage of the game at 18, 62-44. Despite getting as close as seven (72-65 and 73-66), Lewis could never quite bounce back from that run and the Bulldogs scored 13 of their final 17 points at the free throw line. Overall, the Purple and White went 20-for-27 at the charity stripe, including 18-of-23 in the second half, and those 20 free throws made are the most this season.

Next up, Truman will look to keep it rolling at Indianapolis on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. (ET) start time.

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