Jan. 8, 2009

Box Score

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio- Josh Mayo scored 20 points and Scott VanderMeer pitched in his sixth double-double of the season, but the UIC men's basketball team was unable to overcome a hot offensive second half by host Youngstown State in the Flames' 80-70 loss at the Beeghly Center on Thursday night.

UIC (8-6, 1-3 Horizon League) shot 50 percent (29-for-58) for the game, thanks mostly to an opening period in which the Flames hit at a clip of 54.8 percent (17-for-31) to go up by as many as 13 points with less than two minutes left before halftime.

But the Penguins (5-9, 2-3 Horizon League) closed the first half with six unanswered points to cut their deficit down to seven heading into the break, and then the hosts proceeded to shoot 55.6 percent (15-for-27) from the floor while converting 16 of their 18 attempts from the free throw line in the game's final 20 minutes to post the most points against the Flames in a half (49) and a game (80) thus far this season.

Youngstown State turned a five-point deficit with just over nine minutes remaining into a six-point advantage of its own thanks to an 11-0 run, capped by Kelvin Bright's three-pointer with 5:13 on the clock that gave the Penguins a 61-55 lead.

UIC cut its disadvantage down to three, but that's as close the Flames would get.

Mayo tallied 15 of his 20 in the second half and also assisted on five other buckets for the game. VanderMeer scored 11 and pulled down 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the year, matching his single-season career high in that category.

Tori Boyd scored 10 points, while Rob Eppinger scored all 10 of his points off the bench in the first half on perfect 5-for-5 shooting from the field.

Youngstown State made more free throws in the second half alone (16) than UIC attempted for the entire game (14). An inability to take advantage of their few charity stripe chances also came back to haunt the Flames, as UIC hit just seven from the line

Spencer Stewart handed out six assists without a turnover for the Flames.

UIC heads to Cleveland, Ohio to face Cleveland State at the Wolstein Center this Saturday, Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. Central. The game will air live on 560 AM WIND.