Jan. 10, 2009
Box Score
CLEVELAND - The UIC men's basketball team was unable to dig out of a double-digit deficit caused by Cleveland State's 14-0 run in the first half, as the Flames suffered a 79-69 road loss to the Vikings at the Wolstein Center on Saturday night.
Tori Boyd led the Flames (8-7, 1-4 Horizon League) with 15 points, while freshman Jelani Poston had a breakout game with 14 points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes off the bench.
Chris Moore scored a game-high 18 points for the Vikings (13-5, 4-2 Horizon League). Cedric Jackson had a double-double by scoring 10 points and handing out 10 assists.
UIC clung to a 10-9 lead six minutes into the game when Cleveland State went on its burst, scoring 14 unanswered points to turn a one-point deficit into a 13-point lead in under four minutes. The Flames went 0-for-7 from the field during that same span.
Cleveland State would go up by as many as 18 in the first half when Poston began to provide a spark. The rookie was fouled on a lay-in and made the subsequent free throw with a minute left in the period to cut the deficit down to 15 before halftime.
The Flames would get within eight on a couple of occasions early in the second half, both times on Poston dunks. Cleveland State worked its lead back to double figures and kept it there for most of the stanza.
UIC would cut the disadvantage down to six on Boyd's three-pointer with 56 seconds left, but the Vikings' J'Nathan Bullock made all six of his free throw attempts in the final minute to turn away the Flames' rally.
"Our team needs a win right now to get to the point where I think this team should be," said UIC head coach Jimmy Collins following his team's fourth straight defeat. "Cleveland State was not going to let us do that tonight. We made some mistakes at points of the game when we possibly could have made the game much closer."
Poston was a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor and had four offensive boards, helping the Flames outrebound Cleveland State 39-33 overall and 14-6 on the offensive glass. Collins had nothing but praise for Poston's play on Saturday.
"Poston is a very athletic, very talented kid," Collin said. "He's certainly a player we factor into our rotation. If you're going to play in this conference, you have to have some toughness, and he's certainly a tough, hard-nosed kid. He's the toughest post player I have.
"We just need some more guys willing to get inside and play inside," Collins concluded. "If Jelani can get inside and compete against these kids from Cleveland State, he showed how tough he is and how good he can be for our team."
Jeremy Buttell hit a career-high four three-pointers for 12 points, while Spencer Stewart contributed 10 points to give UIC four double-figure scorers. Stewart also pulled down a career-best nine rebounds to lead the Flames.
Faced with double- and triple-teams for most of the night, Josh Mayo, the Horizon League's leading scorer, was held to just six points.
UIC returns home this Thursday, Jan. 15 to host Valparaiso at 7 p.m. inside the UIC Pavilion.
