Flames roll lucky seven

UIC MOVES INTO 2ND PLACE

(2/18/04)

UIC senior center Joe Scott had a migraine headache and did not make the Flames’ Tuesday bus trip to Wisconsin-Green Bay.

However, Scott (pictured) still made it to the game and became a pain in the side of the host Phoenix as UIC picked up a critical 63-55 victory Wednesday at the Resch Center and move into a second-place tie in the Horizon League.

Scott made four field goal attempts in the first six minutes of the game as the Flames (19-7, 10-4) jumped out to a 16-7 lead. He finished with 10 points and nine rebounds, while Cedrick Banks led UIC with 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

The victory gives the Flames a season sweep of Wisconsin-Green Bay and puts them in the driver’s seat for the No. 2 seed and a bye to the Horizon League semifinals.

UIC dominated the game on the glass, out-rebounding the Phoenix 49-26. Sophomore Elliott Poole ripped down a career-best 12 rebounds.

Javier Mendiburu and Kevin Hughes had 11 points apiece to lead Green Bay, whose only lead was 3-2.

The Phoenix shot just 29 percent from the field. The biggest culprit of the bad shooting was Matt Rohde, who had six points on 2-of-16 from the field.

“This was just a night that [Rohde] didn't knock them down,” UIC coach Jimmy Collins said. “Not only Rohde, there were other guys that didn't knock them down. Our guys played with a lot of intensity.”

It wasn’t the prettiest contest, but UIC led for most of the game. Green Bay (16-8, 10-4) was within 23-21 after Hughes nailed a long jumper late in the first half.

The Flames ended the half with a 9-4 spurt in the final 2:44 – which included five points from Martell Bailey – for a 32-25 lead.

Banks hit a three-pointer from the top of the key to extend UIC’s lead to 43-30 with just about 12 minutes to play.

Green Bay fought back to within five at 52-47 on Mendiburu’s three-pointer with 3:07 left, but the Flames scored the next five points, including a key tip-in by Armond Williams, to seal the victory.

UIC made 9 of 12 free throws in the final three minutes to keep the Phoenix at bay.

Bailey had a solid scoring game with 14 points, but only had three assists, and Aaron pitched in with nine points off the bench for the Flames.

UIC improves to 8-3 on the road, while Green Bay dropped to 10-2 at home. The Flames have won six straight over the Phoenix and four straight at Green Bay – two at Resch and two at Brown County Arena.

”I'm very disappointed,” Green Bay coach Tod Kowalczyk said. “We didn’t get the job done in my eyes in what was a championship game. We’ve got to find ways to raise above our level in big games. It comes down to two things in this game: Shoot 29 percent and I think we gave them way too many second-chance opportunities on the glass.”

HORIZON TOURNAMENT: An odd situation came about in the last week, regarding host status for the upcoming league tournament. Barring a first-round loss, Butler, which was promised hosting rights to the tournament, will host the second round and semifinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse March 5-6.

If the Bulldogs get upset in the opening round, the tournament would shift the highest seed, which would be Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Milwaukee, however, can’t host that weekend’s slate of games, because U.S. Cellular Arena is booked.

This means if UIC finishes second, the second round and semifinal contests would be at the Pavilion.

“Our facility is ready,” said UIC athletic director Jim Schmidt during halftime of Wednesday night’s game.