Men's Basketball Downs Youngstown State, 86-72
Feb. 2, 2008
Chicago, Ill.- Five players scored in double figures for the UIC men's basketball team in an 86-72 victory over Youngstown State at the UIC Pavilion on Saturday night. Josh Mayo scored a game-high 21 points for the Flames (12-10, 6-5 Horizon League). Scott VanderMeer came off the bench to tab a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Robert Kreps (15 points), Karl White Jr. (11 points) and Robert Bush (10 points) also added double-digit scoring. After Mikko Niemi hit a three in the opening seconds of the contest for Youngstown State (7-15, 3-9 Horizon League), UIC tallied eight straight points to take a lead it would never relinquish. The Flames would go up by as many as 18 in the first half and led 42-28 at halftime. The Penguins would get within six in the middle of the final stanza, but another 8-0 spurt, keyed by back-to-back three-pointers off the fingertips of Mayo, put the Flames back ahead by double digits. That's how the UIC lead would stay the rest of the way. Spencer Stewart handed out a career-high nine assists as UIC accumulated 21 helpers on 31 field goals. Mayo went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc to improve his national-best three-point field goal percentage to 55.6 percent.
The Flames shot 51.7 percent (31-for-60) from the floor, the eighth time in 11 home games that UIC has shot 50 percent or better from the field. UIC heads to Rogers Park next Saturday night to face crosstown rival Loyola at the Gentile Center. Tip-off between the Flames and the Ramblers is set for 7:00 p.m. |
