Feb. 21, 2009
Box Score
CHICAGO - Josh Mayo scored 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second half of the final home game of his illustrious UIC career, and the Flames held off a late Southern Illinois rally to defeat the Salukis, 74-67, in an ESPNU BracketBusters game at the UIC Pavilion on Saturday night.
Robo Kreps added 20 points and Scott VanderMeer fell one rebound short of a double-double in his last home contest with 12 points and nine boards for the Flames (14-14), who won for the fourth time in the last five games.
Kevin Dillard, a Homewood native and last year's Illinois Mr. Basketball, scored 17 to lead the Salukis (11-17).
Mayo and Kreps combined to go 9-for-16 from behind the three-point line, including 5-for-9 from downtown after halftime.
The Flames led for most of the second period, going up by as many as 15 midway through the half on a layup by Kreps.
Mayo hit a three with just over two minutes remaining to put the Flames up 67-55 when Southern Illinois made its last-gasp run. Dillard matched Mayo's trey with a triple of his own on the other end to start a stretch of four consecutive Saluki three-pointers, with a trio swished in by Dillard and one by Marshall grad Ryan Hare (12 points), as the visitors outscored UIC 12-3 over a span of a minute and a half to cut the UIC advantage down to 70-67.
But Mayo made a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left to push the Flames' lead to five, and a pair of Dillard misses from behind the arc afterwards forced the Salukis to foul VanderMeer with 15 seconds on the game clock after the 7-footer gathered the carom on the second unsuccessful attempt. The Flames' senior center then made two at the charity stripe to put the game away.
"I was very pleased with the way our team stayed strong in terms of not panicking and using poise when poise was necessary," said UIC head coach Jimmy Collins. "The Salukis, even though they were shorthanded, played a very competitive basketball game, and we knew they would. I was very, very pleased with the way our guys stayed together and consistently did what the game plan called for."
Mayo moved into sole possession of fourth place on UIC's all-time scoring list on Saturday. He now has 1,667 career points in a Flames uniform.
Before the game Mayo, VanderMeer and senior team manager Lawrence Moore were honored as part of Senior Night, and retiring associate head coach Mark Coomes was also honored for 13 seasons of dedicated service on the sidelines for the Flames prior to his final home game.
UIC improved to 6-1 all-time in BracketBuster games and 5-0 in BracketBuster games at the Pavilion.
UIC wraps up the regular season next Friday, Feb. 27 at crosstown rival Loyola inside the Gentile Center at 8 p.m. Central in a nationally-televised game on ESPNU.
