CLEVELAND – UIC registered its fourth consecutive victory, and second away from home, with an 81-77 win at Cleveland State Thursday night.
 
Marcus Ottey posted a game-high 20 points, but none bigger than the layup he scored with 10.1 seconds to go that broke a 77-77 tie and put the Flames (14-12, 8-5 Horizon League) in front for good. As Cleveland State (7-20, 2-12 Horizon League) tried to the tie the game, Tarkus Ferguson stole the ball and drew a foul with 3.6 seconds remaining. He made both free throws to seal the win for the visitors.
 
Ferguson tallied 19 points with three 3-pointers, while Godwin Boahen added 18 with five triples and a season-high seven assists. Michael Diggins added 12 points off the bench for UIC. Ottey led the Flames with six rebounds.

First-Half Headlines

• BOAHEN'S BOOST: Cleveland State led 20-18 when Godwin Boahen took it upon himself to get UIC back in front. He made 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to get the Flames ahead, 24-20. Later, with the game tied at 26, he hit one that followed a steal by Jamie Ahale and it gave the Flames the lead again.
• RUN AND FUN: UIC led 34-32 with 3:26 to go in the half when Tarkus Ferguson sank a long 3-pointer to ignite a quick 9-0 run over 1:04 that made it 43-32. That was the score with just under two minutes to play when Boahen stole the ball for UIC and got it ahead to Michael Diggins who unleashed a one-handed windmill dunk that gave the Flames their largest lead of the half at 13 points.
• DYNAMIC DEFENSE: CSU played without primary point guard Tyree Appleby for much of the first half and the offense struggled to find a rhythm down the stretch. The Vikings were held without a field goal over the final 4:33 of the half. In that span the Vikings scored only two free throws.

Second-Half Headlines

• CLEVELAND STATE'S COMEBACK: The Vikings chipped away at their deficit and whittled it all the way down to a point with 12:48 remaining in the game after Appleby made a 3-pointer, got fouled and made the free throw. After misses on both ends, Ferguson scored inside with 12:12 to go.
• HANG ON: UIC held a three-point lead after an Ottey layup with 1:47 to go. After turning it over with 1:04 to go, the Flames played tight defense for more than 29 seconds, but CSU's Rashad Williams hit a long improbable 3-pointer with a defender in his face to knot the score at 77-77.
• OT-STANDING FINISH: Following a timeout Ottey dribbled near the UIC bench to wind down the clock with about 13 seconds to go he put his head down and knifed through the CSU defense to get to the rim. The junior put the ball up and in to give the Flames a 79-77 lead. The Vikings called timeout, but Ferguson stole the ball from Appleby with under four seconds to go. He was fouled and made both shots from the charity stripe to seal the win.

Highlights



Postgame Reaction



Notable

• The Flames have won four consecutive games for the first time this season.
• UIC's last three wins have come by a combined total of seven points. Thursday's victory was the largest margin of victory since the Flames topped Wright State on Feb. 1 by 14 points.
• Marcus Ottey reached the 20-point mark for the sixth time this season and the 12^th time in his career. He has led UIC in scoring a team-high 12 times this year.
• Ottey has made the game-winning shot in each of UIC's last two games. In addition to the winner with 10.1 seconds to go at Cleveland State, he scored the game's final points with a layup in a one-point win at IUPUI on Feb. 9.
• Godwin Boahen made five 3-pointers, including four in the first half. He has made at least five 3-pointers five times this season.
• Boahen led all players with a season-high seven assists at Cleveland State. It's the fifth time he's paced UIC in that category this season.
• UIC scored 14 points off 11 CSU turnovers, while the Vikings had 11 off 11 miscues by the Flames.
• The Flames outrebounded the Vikings, 35-34. UIC improved to 8-2 when collecting more boards than the opposition.
• UIC moved to 13-3 when leading at the break this season against Horizon League foes.
• The Flames made 10 3-pointers and moved to 12-5 when shooting better than 35 percent from beyond the arc.
• The Flames shot at least 50 percent from the floor for the second-straight outing. UIC converted at a clip of 50.9 percent on Thursday.

Up Next

• The Flames conclude the three-game road trip with a stop at Youngstown State on Saturday, Feb. 16.
• The Flames have two-game winning streaks at YSU's Beeghly Center.
• UIC topped Youngstown State State at Credit Union 1 Arena on Jan. 10, 78-63. Ferguson made a career-high seven 3-pointers in that game, all coming in the first half.
• The Penguins began the week as the Horizon League's hottest team, having won five consecutive games after taking out IUPUI Thursday, 75-73.