CHICAGO — UIC freshman guard Andy Johnson scored a career-high 25 points and sophomore guard Elijah Crawford tallied 19 points and a game-high eight assists as the Flames outlasted Bradley in a Missouri Valley Conference double-overtime barnburner, 93-86 on Tuesday night at Credit Union 1 Arena. With the victory in its final regular-season home game, UIC (17-13, 12-7 MVC) moves back into a tie for second place in the conference standings with Bradley (19-11, 12-7) and matches its overall win total from last season, while adding to its program record for most MVC wins in its four seasons as a conference member.
Junior guard Ahmad Henderson II came up with 14 points, including two massive free throws with 26 seconds left in the second overtime and UIC leading by three. Graduate student forward Abdul Momoh rounded out the Flames' double-figure scoring quartet with 13 points, including seven in the two overtime periods.
Collectively, UIC shot 51.7 percent from the floor, including 47.8 percent from three-point range, while leading for more than 43 of the 50 minutes in Tuesday's marathon. In fact, the Flames were leading all the way until early in the first overtime, while Bradley never led by more than two points all night (that coming just past the midway mark of the first OT).
The full box score and play-by-play recap from Tuesday's win against Bradley can be found here.
COACH'S COMMENTS
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- UIC improves to 2-1 in overtime games this season (5-1 in the Rob Ehsan era) and have won six of their last seven OT games.
- This marked the third consecutive year the Flames played a multi-overtime game and first since a 97-93 double-overtime win over Murray State on Jan. 15, 2025, at Credit Union 1 Arena.
- UIC posts its 12th MVC win of the season, extending its record for most conference victories in a season during its four-year Valley membership.
- The Flames' 12 conference wins this year also tie for the second-most league victories in ANY conference in program history (12-6 Horizon League in 2017-18; 12-4 Horizon seasons in both 2002-03 and 2003-04; 12-2 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference in 1997-98; 14-4 in the Mid-Continent Conference in 1994-95).
- UIC equals its win total from last year's 17-14 campaign, the first time the Flames have had back-to-back 17-win seasons since 2016-17 (17-19) and 2017-18 (20-16).
- Bradley came into Tuesday's game ranked No. 24 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll, the 14th UIC opponent this season to be ranked or receiving votes in that survey (the Flames are 5-2 in their last seven games against ranked teams).
- The Flames are 4-13 all-time against Bradley (3-4 in Chicago), but have won their last three games against the Braves, sweeping the season series for the first time since joining the MVC in 2022-23.
- This was the first overtime contest in the 17-game series between UIC and Bradley, while it was also the 10th series meeting decided by 10 points or fewer.
- Andy Johnson's 25 points eclipsed his previous career high of 21 points against Drake on Jan. 17 at Credit Union 1 Arena. He also tied his career high with five three-pointers, matching the mark he set on Feb. 18 at Evansville.
- Elijah Crawford posted his 10th game this season with five assists and fifth with at least seven helpers.
- Junior guard/forward Mekhi Lowery grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, his highest total this season and in a Flames' uniform.
- Graduate student guard Sam Silverstein tied his career high with four assists (the eighth time he has done that), while his four steals were a season high and most since a career-high five thefts against Siena on Nov. 20, 2022 (when he was playing at Harvard).
UP NEXT: INDIANA STATE
UIC closes out the regular season on Sunday with a noon CT/1 p.m. ET MVC matchup at Indiana State. The matinee, which will be the Flames' first visit to Terre Haute since 2024, will be televised live on ESPN+.
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