Feb. 15, 2015
Final Stats: CSU 67, UIC 59
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The UIC men's basketball team (7-20, 3-9 HL) led second-place Cleveland State (16-11, 10-3 HL) by four (34-30) at halftime on Sunday afternoon, but the Vikings shot 65 percent in the final period to earn a 67-59 home win.
Senior Ahman Fells posted his second career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while junior Paris Burns also netted 17. CSU was paced by junior Trey Lewis with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while junior Anton Grady just missed a double-double with nine points and 13 boards.
UIC took control early with a 14-9 lead by the 14:08 mark after Burns and sophomore Markese McGuire had combined for 10 early points. The Vikings used back-to-back threes from Lewis and junior Vinny Zollo to jump ahead 17-14 as they eventually stretched their advantage out to 23-18.
The Flames executed an 8-0 run over the next three minutes, including consecutive triples from Jay Harris and Fells, to go up 26-23 with 5:14 left in the period. UIC sank 6-of-6 from the foul line in the final four minutes of the half and headed into break ahead by four (34-30). Twenty one of CSU's 30 first half points came from behind the arc as they made their first seven three-point attempts to start the game.
The Vikings took over in the second half and used a 19-7 run to jump ahead 49-41. CSU reached its largest lead of the game with 5:07 left to play (60-47) after scoring seven straight points.
Three consecutive treys from Fells pulled the Flames to within four (60-56) with 2:22 on the clock. Fells drained 5-of-9 from behind the arc and is now shooting 63 percent (17-of-27) from deep in the last six games.
Cleveland State went on to score the next four points and seven of the game's final 10 points to seal victory.
The Vikings scored 18 of their 37 second half points in the paint and limited UIC to 8-of-33 from the field in the final 20 minutes.
Burns has now scored 14 or more points in his last seven games and is averaging more than 17 points per contest during that span.
Freshman Tai Odiase contributed six points and three rebounds in 13 minutes of action as Harris added nine points.
UIC will play three of its last four regular season games at home starting on Thursday against Milwaukee at 7 p.m. CT.
