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Men's Basketball Downed By Milwaukee, 78-74, In Regular Season Finale
Feb. 27, 2010
CHICAGO- The UIC men's basketball team fought back to get within two late after a slow start led to a 16-point second-half deficit, but the Flames' rally ran out of time in a 78-74 loss to Milwaukee at the UIC Pavilion on Saturday. Robo Kreps and Jeremy Buttell scored 16 apiece in the regular-season finale for the Flames (8-21, 3-15 Horizon League), who will face the Panthers (18-13, 10-8 Horizon League) in a Horizon League Championship first-round game at U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee next Tuesday. Milwaukee's Anthony Hill led all scorers with 20 points, while teammate James Eayrs scored 19. The Panthers jumped out to an 8-0 lead and would go up by as many as 15 before halftime thanks to their inside-outside game. Milwaukee sank six three-pointers in the first half, and the frontcourt duo of Hill and Eayrs combined for 22 opening-period points. Milwaukee led by 16 on two occasions in the second period, but the Flames chipped away behind Buttell. The senior forward scored 13 points, hitting a pair of treys and scoring a trio of points on an old-fashioned three-point play, in just over seven minutes to bring the deficit down to seven with under eight minutes remaining. Milwaukee extended the lead to double-digits again when UIC made its final charge in the game's final five minutes. Three free throws by Spencer Stewart cut the Panthers' lead down to eight, and Kreps nailed a three with 3:30 on the clock to get the Flames within five. A Kreps free throw and a layup by Zavion Neely (15 points) made the score 69-67 in favor of Milwaukee with 1:44 left. Ricky Franklin lofted in a layup, and shortly afterwards Franklin's free-throw miss on a one-and-one was rebounded by Eayrs and put back in for a six-point Panther advantage.
The Flames were down by five with 19 seconds remaining when Kreps hit a quick three four seconds later to make the score 76-74. Neely fouled Lonnie Boga to put the freshman at the charity stripe for a pair, and Boga made both with six seconds left to make it to a two-possession game. Kreps missed two free throws with only three seconds left, ending the game. "Anytime you give up 41 points and 20 rebounds to the opposing team's posts, that's a problem," said UIC head coach Jimmy Collins of the damage caused by Milwaukee's frontcourt against the Flames. "We have to work on our post defense. 41 and 20. Those numbers keep jumping in my head. "We should not get beat like that." Saturday was Senior Day, as Buttell, Stewart, Chris Buchanan and Kris Harris were honored for the contributions to the program. Robo Kreps was also presented with a game ball from Collins for reaching the 1,000 career point mark two weeks ago. |
