CHICAGO – Three days after making a school-record 21 three-point buckets, the Roosevelt men's basketball team connected on 14 second-half treys to finish with 20 three-pointers in total and defeat 25th-ranked St. Francis (Ill.), 91-80, inside the Goodman Center on Saturday afternoon.
Kevin Day sank a career-high six treys to amass a career-high 20 points off the bench and lead all scorers for the Lakers (15-9, 9-5 CCAC), who won for the fourth consecutive time.
Jake Asquini went a perfect 4-for-4 from downtown in the second half and made five in total for 15 points, while Bennett Fuzak made four treys to score 18 points.
Jake Ludwig had another strong night facilitating the offense with eight assists.
Jordan Thornton led St. Francis (15-9, 9-5 CCAC) with 15 points.
Roosevelt broke open a close game in the second half by going 14-of-16 (87.5 percent) from three-point land in the contest's final 20 minutes, with Day and Asquini accounting for nine trifectas in that span.
Overwhelming their nationally-ranked guests with red-hot three-point shooting quickly turned a three-point lead early in the second half into double digits, and eventually the Lakers grew the advantage to 27 before USF chipped away with late pressure for the final margin.
"Give St. Francis credit for closing the gap on the score at the end, as they did a way better job playing to the whistle than we did," Roosevelt head coach Joe Griffin said. "We were up 27 with 3:44 left but only won by 11 due to us relaxing and Francis keeping their foot on the gas. We have to get better at that.
"The shooting once again was very impressive and we shared it well again, with almost an identical offensive performance as last game," said Griffin, as Roosevelt had 26 assists on 33 made baskets. "They really keyed on Lud, but he did a great job with an 8-1, and our defense was quite strong for most of the game until the last three-minutes. Kevin Day was outstanding and he really changes our team when he brings it like he did. Bennett and Asquini continue to shoot it great."
Roosevelt welcomes St. Ambrose this Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. inside the Goodman Center.
