Dec. 6, 2008
Box Score
Chicago, Ill.- Josh Mayo's 22 points led a quintet of double-digit scorers for the UIC men's basketball team in the Flames' 83-69 Horizon League-opening victory over Loyola at the UIC Pavilion on Saturday night.
Scott VanderMeer added season-highs in points (18) and rebounds (14) for his third double-double of the season as the Flames (5-2, 1-0 Horizon League) won for the fourth consecutive time.
Tori Boyd's 13 points, Robo Kreps' 11 and a career-high 10 points from Jovan Ignjatovic rounded out the double-figure offensive outputs for UIC.
Justin Cerasoli scored a game-high 24 points for the Ramblers (4-5, 0-1 Horizon League).
As is usually the case when the Flames take on their crosstown rivals from Rogers Park, the game was back-and-forth throughout. There were eight lead changes and five ties before the Flames took the lead for good midway through the second half. It remained close until UIC outscored Loyola 10-2 in the final 1:23 of the game.
UIC was nursing a four-point lead with just over three minutes remaining when Boyd nailed a three-pointer to give the hosts some breathing room. After a pair of successful free throws by Loyola's Darrin Williams trimmed the lead down to five, Kreps hit a dagger from downtown to push the lead up to eight.
A pair of J.R. Blount layups sandwiched two Kreps free throws to get the Ramblers' deficit down to six, but that's as close as they would get as the Flames hit six straight from the charity stripe with under a minute left and closed the scoring on a Boyd lay-in.
"For the most part the game was like UIC and Loyola usually play," said UIC head coach Jimmy Collins. "It's nip and tuck and it goes down to the very end. We caused some turnovers, created some fast breaks and hit some shots after moving the ball, and that enabled us to win the game."
Mayo was 7-for-13 from the floor, including 5-for-7 from three-point range. It was the third straight game that the senior guard hit at least five treys and the third consecutive contest he has reached at least 20 points.
UIC had 17 offensive rebounds, led by VanderMeer's 10 on the offensive glass, to spur a 22-8 advantage in second-chance points. Ignjatovic also added a career-high five boards as the Flames outrebounded Loyola, 36-30.
The Flames used a 15-3 run near the final stages of the first half to go ahead by nine points, and it appeared that would be the advantage that UIC took into the locker room at intermission until Cerasoli hit a buzzer-beating three from near the center of the court.
UIC gets a break from game action for final exams this week before heading to Atlanta next weekend to take on Georgia Tech inside the Thriller Dome on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. Central.
