Feb. 26, 2015
FINAL STATS
CHICAGO - After being down by 17 points early in the second half, the UIC men's basketball team (7-23, 3-12 HL) knotted the score at 61-61 with 2:54 left to play against visiting Green Bay (22-7, 11-4 HL) on Thursday night, but the Phoenix ultimately prevailed by a final of 72-67.
Senior Jay Harris poured in a team-high 26 points and shot 8-of-9 from the field, while Green Bay was paced by senior Keifer Sykes with a career-high 36 points.
"I'm really proud of how we fought back in the second half," said head coach Howard Moore. "Our guys came out of the locker room with a different purpose and demeanor. We did a lot of little things to help us make that run, but the difference in the game was Green Bay's 15 offensive rebounds."
UIC outscored Green Bay in the second half, 42-32, and shot 58.3 percent (14-of-24) from the floor. The Flames hit 7-of-14 from behind the arc for the game and are now shooting 44 percent (61-of-139) from deep in their last seven outings.
UIC began their surge at the 15:34 mark of the second half after a three-pointer by senior Ahman Fells. His trey sparked a 9-0 run that pulled the Flames to within seven (48-41) of the Phoenix.
Green Bay went nearly four minutes without scoring until Kenneth Lowe converted a layup with 12:38 on the clock. The two teams traded buckets and then Harris netted five straight to cut GB's lead down to 52-48 with less than 10 minutes to play.
The Phoenix had regained a six-point edge (61-55) with 4:34 on the clock, but UIC rattled off three straight buckets to knot the score at 61-61. The 6-0 spurt was capped by a layup from freshman Tai Odiase. He finished the night with 10 points, including eight the final frame.
Green Bay went back up by five (69-64) with 23 seconds left after Sykes hit a pair of free throws. Harris gave the Flames one last chance after his fourth triple of the night pulled UIC to within two (69-67) with 17 ticks remaining. Sykes iced the game by hitting 3-of-4 from the foul line in the final 15 seconds.
Harris went 6-of-7 from the free throw line and moved into fourth place on UIC's all-time single season leaderboard with 134 made foul shots. His average of 88.7 percent ranks first on the single season list ahead of Josh Mayo who shot 88.6 percent in 2006-07.
Senior Marc Brown had a solid all-around performance with 12 points, six rebounds and tied a career-high with five assists. He needs 32 more points to reach 1,000 for his career as he currently sits at 968.
UIC will conclude regular season action at home on Saturday afternoon as they host Wright State at 1 p.m. CT. The winner will earn the No. 6 seed in the 2015 Horizon League Tournament and host a first-round contest. Prior to the game on Saturday, UIC will honor seniors Jay Harris, Ahman Fells and Marc Brown.
