KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Lewis utilized two big first-half runs, 17-5 and 19-5, to take complete control of Saturday afternoon's Senior Day in Pershing Arena and never looked back. Unfortunately, the three times the Truman State University men's basketball team could get as close as 13 in the second half, the Flyers had an answer each of those times and spoiled the festivities with the 21-point decision, 79-58.

Truman (14-14, 9-9 GLVC) now heads into the GLVC Tournament as the eight seed and will face top-seeded Lewis (23-4, 15-3 GLVC) for a third time this season. That quarterfinal matchup will be on Thursday, March 7 in Edwardsville, Ill. on the campus of SIUE with the tip time to be decided inside the Vadalabene Center.

Cade McKnight tied Lewis' Delaney Blaylock for the game high in points with 23, one off his career high, and missed just two of his 10 field goal attempts to go with five rebounds. Brodric Thomas was the only other Bulldog in double-figures with 15 on 5-of-12 shooting, four boards and four steals, but turned the ball over six times without an assist. Playing their final game inside Pershing were Nikola Pesic, Jacob Socha (two rebounds), Taurin Hughes (eight points, two boards, one assist, and two steals), and Nathan Messer (six points, two rebounds, two assists, and a steal). Former guard, Jack Green, joined those four as members of the 2018-19 senior class.

In the first half alone, Truman turned the ball over 14 times and Lewis had half as many while turning those 14 Bulldog giveaways into 20 points as opposed to Truman's two points off turnovers. The Flyers also outscored the Bulldogs by 18 in the paint, 28-10, those first 20 minutes and shot 63.3 percent (19-of-30) to the Purple and White's 40.9 percent clip (9-for-22). Those were the differences in a lopsided first half that saw Lewis head into the locker room with a comfy 18-point advantage, 47-29.

All in all, Truman registered 20 turnovers, tied for its second most this season, and dished out only six assists, the program's fewest since that many exactly two years ago to the day against No. 12 Southern Indiana in the GLVC Tournament. Lewis finished with a field goal percentage of 55.8 (29-of-52) to Truman's 39.2 (20-for-51). The Bulldogs also really struggled at the free throw line where they weren't able to convert nine of their 22 attempts (13-22), the most misses in that category since Feb. 22, 2018 vs. William Jewell (23-of-32).

Follow us on Twitter @TrumanAthletics for the release of the GLVC Tournament bracket later Saturday night.

#BewareOfDog