Feb. 27, 2009
Box Score
CHICAGO- Stout defense in the first half and in the game's final seconds helped the UIC men's basketball team turn away a furious Loyola rally attempt near the end of the Flames' 62-58 victory in the regular season finale at the Gentile Center on Friday in front of a national television audience on ESPNU.
Rob Eppinger scored a career-high 16 points on perfect 8-for-8 shooting from the floor, and Scott VanderMeer turned in his ninth double-double of the year with 12 points and a season-high 17 rebounds to pace the Flames (15-14, 7-11 Horizon League), who won their fourth straight game and notched their fifth victory in the last six contests.
UIC clinched the No. 7 seed in the 2009 Speedway Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship and will play sixth-seeded Youngstown State in the opening round next Tuesday, Mar. 3 in Youngstown, Ohio at 6 p.m. Central.
The Flames forced the Ramblers (14-17, 6-12 Horizon League) to make only five of their 26 attempts (19.2 percent) from the field in the first half, and UIC went on a 12-0 run in the middle of the stanza to go up by as many as 14. VanderMeer corralled a total of 12 rebounds, including 11 Rambler misses, in the opening period alone as UIC took an 11-point lead into the break.
Eppinger, who started for the injured Jeremy Buttell (sore left knee), was solid on the offensive end from beginning to end. The 6-foot-8 junior forward utilized a variety of lay-ins and jumpers to go 4-for-4 from the floor in each half.
The lead would extend to 15 in the early moments of the second half, and frequent Rambler attempts to chip away at the Flames' advantage would be turned away as UIC stayed ahead by double-digits for a majority of the post-intermission action.
Josh Mayo hit a three with 3:50 on the clock to put UIC up 59-48, but Loyola began its final run shortly after. A Flames fast break was halted by a Justin Cersoli block on Robo Kreps' layup try, leading to a layup on the other end by J.R. Blount. On the next possession Mayo was called for a carry, giving the ball back to the Ramblers, who cut their deficit down to six after an Aric Van Weelden triple.
A bucket by Darrin Williams cut UIC's lead down to four, and Spencer Stewart made one of two free throws with 1:07 left to put the Flames back up by five. Following Van Weelden's three-point miss, the Ramblers retained possession and made good on a second try from downtown courtesy of Marcus Thomas with 45 seconds remaining to get within two.
Mayo missed a jumper with 12 seconds left, and it appeared the Ramblers were on the break to tie or take the lead. But Kreps stepped in front of Jordan Hicks's pass for a steal and eventually found Mayo, who was fouled and calmly stepped to the line with one second to play to can a pair of free throws that iced the game.
Loyola's inbounds pass in the final second was picked off by a leaping Tori Boyd to end the evening.
"It was a very competitive game," said UIC head coach Jimmy Collins. "It was one that, going down the stretch, a miss here, a turnover there, a foul here, I think either team could have won it. Loyola played hard. We just had a little more inside power with our big guys, and going down the stretch we got the ball in the right hands."
UIC extended its winning streak over Loyola to five games. The Flames have now won three in a row over the Ramblers at the Gentile Center.
Friday's game marked the first time in nine games that VanderMeer, the Horizon League's record-holder in career blocked shots, did not register a block, while Mayo was credited with only his second career blocked shot and first since his freshman season.
