Dec. 11, 1999

Box Score

Chicago, Ill. ? For the fourth time in eight games, the UIC men?s basketball team (3-5) surrendered a halftime lead as Southern Illinois (3-3) escaped with a 65-58 win at the UIC Pavilion Saturday afternoon.

The Flames held a 31-19 edge at the break as their defense held Southern Illinois to just 23.3% shooting from the field in the first half while guard Jordan Kardos sparked the Flames with 12 points in the first 20 minutes.

Southern Illinois, however, stormed back in the second half as it improved to 48.4% field goal shooting and at the 6:40 mark it took a 53-52 lead as forward Chris Thunell drained his third three-pointer of the game.

SIU held on to the lead down the stretch as it outscored UIC 21-8 in the final 7:45. Thunell led the Salukis? second half charge as he tallied 14 of his game-high 18 points in the final period after hitting 4-of-7 from the field and all three of his three-point attempts in the final period.

?Our guys were afraid to win and we didn?t play with any heart in the second half,? UIC Head Coach Jimmy Collins said following the loss. ?They went inside consistently and we just couldn?t stop them.?

Kardos, UIC?s leading scorer coming in, led four Flames? double-digit scorers with 16 points. Theandre Kimbrough tallied his first ?double-double? of the season as he finished the afternoon with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Ian Hanavan also added 11 points and T.J. Mixson, making the first start of his career, finished with a personal-best 10 points.