Nov. 7, 2015
CHICAGO -- UIC hosted Lake Forest College in its lone exhibition game of the 2015-16 campaign Saturday afternoon and the Flames came away with a 73-60 victory in the preseason tilt.
Eleven of the 12 Flames who saw action at the UIC Pavilion dented the scoring column, with three in double figures. Freshman Dominique Matthews earned the start for head coach Steve McClain and he rewarded the coach's confidence with a game-high 17 points. Sophomore Tai Odiase chipped in with 16 points, while another newcomer, Dikembe Dixson added 12.
LFC's Eric Porter and Danny Sotos each poured in 10 points for the Foresters. The squad's leading scorer from a year ago was limited to only six points in the game, all of which came in the opening half.
As they adjusted to a new offensive system, the Flames were slow to find the bottom of the net in the early going. UIC had three points in nearly the first four minutes of the game, but the squad steadied the attack and eventually opened up an eight-point lead with 1:29 to go in the first half. The Flames defense cranked up as well, limiting the Foresters to a single point in the final 3:26 of the half.
UIC shot only 32.5 percent in the first 20 minutes, but by nabbing nine turnovers and holding LFC to a mark of 22.9 percent from the floor, the home team maintained a 37-27 lead at the half. The defense was anchored inside by Odiase as he rejected five shots in the first stanza. The second-year center also added a game-high 10 points and seven boards.
The Flames continued to pick it up on both ends of the floor in the second half. With just over 11 minutes to go in the game Odiase grabbed one of his four offensive rebounds and put it back up and in to give the team a 20-point lead, 55-35.
Lake Forest starting hitting shots and it used a 22-9 run over the span of seven minutes and change to cut the deficit to single digits, eight points, with 3:51 to go. For the next 3:39, however, the UIC defense prevented the Foresters from scoring as they salted away a 73-60 triumph.
Odiase finished with a game-high 11 rebounds and seven blocks to go with his 16 points. Dixson, Matthews and Najeal Young each grabbed six caroms for the Flames Saturday.
McClain's squad dominated both in the paint and on the fast break against Lake Forest. UIC outscored the Foresters inside, 44-20, and on the break, 12-3.
The Flames will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 13, when the San Francisco Dons invade the UIC Pavilion. It will be the first-ever contest between the two programs and the first regular-season game in the McClain era. For information and tickets, please click here call 312-413-UIC1.
