CHICAGO – Freshman Filip Skobalj recorded his first collegiate double-double Thursday (Jan. 20) evening as the UIC men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 74-70 defeat to Northern Kentucky inside Credit Union 1 Arena.
 
After the Norse's potential game-winning layup in regulation was ruled to come after the buzzer, Skobalj scored the first five points of the overtime period to put the Flames up 70-65. Northern Kentucky would respond by scoring the final nine points of the extra period to pull away with the victory.
 
Skobalj, one of four Flames to score in double figures, added a season-high 11 rebounds to go with his season-best 15 points to secure the double-double. Damaria Franklin was added a team-high 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists while Kevin Johnson chipped in 13 points. Zion Griffin rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points and three blocked shots.
 
After the Norse scored the first four points of the game, UIC ripped off 10 unanswered to take a 10-4 lead with 14:17 left in the half. Back-to-back triples by Johnson and Franklin in the middle of the run highlighted the scoring spree for the Flames.
 
The teams would trade the lead back and forth until a Griffin triple put the Flames up by a 21-18 margin with 5:59 to play, and the lead would grow to as many as eight in the closing minutes of the half before a late Norse bucket cut UIC's halftime lead to six at 31-25.
 
It was a tightly contested second half which featured neither team leading by more than five points until Johnson's 3-point play with 3:54 remaining put UIC ahead by a 63-57 margin. Northern Kentucky would climb back and even the score at 65-all with 1:05 to play in the half. The Flames' attempt to take the lead in the closing seconds wouldn't fall and Sam Vinson's buzzer-beating layup was ruled to come after the horn sounded following a review to send the game to overtime. Northern Kentucky would overcome the early five-point deficit in the extra period to pull out the 74-70 victory.
 
UIC returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 22, when the Flames play host to Wright State. Tip-off inside Credit Union 1 Arena is slated for 7 p.m.
 
News and Notes

• Skobalj became the second Flame this year to record a double-double, with Franklin leading the way with four on the year. Skobalj set season-highs in points, rebounds and assists.
• UIC fell one 3-pointer shy of matching its season high for triples in a game with its 13 made 3-pointers Thursday. Half of UIC's field goals came from long distance.
•  The Flames' seven blocks Thursday tied the single-game high in the Luke Yaklich era.
• Thursday's game featured 14 ties and eight lead changes, with the Flames leading for 29:35 of the game.