Jan. 29, 2015
Final Stats: UWM 71, UIC 65
MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The UIC men's basketball team (5-17, 1-6 HL) dropped a heartbreaker at Milwaukee (8-14, 3-5 HL) on Thursday night by a final score of 71-65. Two made free throws by junior Paris Burns with 51 seconds left to play pulled UIC within two points ( 67-65), but a three-pointer by UWM's Justin Jordan with 20 seconds remaining was the clincher.
Senior Ahman Fells scored a career- and game-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting as Burns added 16. Senior Jay Harris chipped in 11 points for his fourth straight double-digit scoring performance.
Milwaukee was paced by junior Matt Tiby with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Senior Steve McWhorter netted 17 points and dished out four assists.
"We had our chances to win tonight," said head coach Howard Moore. "They hit some big threes in the second half that gave them a lot of momentum. I thought Ahman (Fells) had a great game and has been playing with great energy this past month."
The Horizon League battle featured 11 ties and 10 lead changes. UIC led by as many as six points in the first half after a 12-2 run gave them an 18-12 advantage by the 7:55 mark.
Fells capped the spurt with UIC's lone triple of the opening period as the Chicago native finished the half with a team-best nine points. Milwaukee then scored six straight points to even the score at 18-18. The lead went back and forth for the remainder of the stanza and settled on a 28-28 tie at intermission.
Junior Jason McClellan scored five straight points for UIC to start the second half and the Flames owned a 40-34 edge by the 16:25 mark. McClellan ended the night with seven points and seven rebounds.
Milwaukee fought its way back and took a one-point lead (44-43) after Jordan sank a three with 12:22 left to play.
The game was tied at 50-50 at the 8:52 mark when UWM's Cody Wichmann drilled his third triple of the night to give Milwaukee the lead for good. The Panthers reached their largest advantage of seven points on three occasions over the next seven minutes.
Sophomore Marcus White made his first career start tonight and played a season-high 15 minutes.
The Flames return to action at home on Saturday against Valparaiso. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. CT.
