Kreps can’t save Flames

LOYOLA NEARLY BLOWS 20-POINT LEAD

January 24, 2011

Whoosh! photo Flame of the Game Senior guard Robo Kreps scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the second half as he tried to rally the Flames from a 20-point deficit. He was 7-for-17 from the field to go with six rebounds and two steals while playing all 40 minutes.

Down by 20 points to Loyola midway through the second half, the sensors finally turned on Robo Kreps’ head.

The UIC senior guard scored 11 of his team-leading 19 points in the final 8:09 as the Flames nearly erased the entire deficit, but as this season goes, again it wasn’t enough as the host Ramblers held on for a 68-59 victory at the Gentile Center on Saturday afternoon.

Geoff McCammon came geared with the fire extinguisher as the senior guard scored 19 points and hit five three-pointers to lead Loyola (12-8, 3-6 Horizon League) and hand UIC its eighth straight loss.

Courtney Stanley had 13 points and four assists, Ben Averkamp contributed 12 points and Andy Polka added 11 rebounds for the Ramblers, who have defeated the Flames in three straight meetings.

“We got ourselves into a hole,” UIC coach Howard Moore said. “Some of that was due to turnovers, and a lot of it was due to a lack of focus. We committed 18 turnovers against a team that doesn’t pressure much, and that was tough for us to overcome. Give credit to Loyola, they took it to us.”

McCammon sat for the game’s first three minutes before coming off the bench. A few minutes later, he started cooking as he hit his first three-ball of the game to give the Ramblers a 17-12 lead.

McCammon followed up a Dipanjot Singh three-pointer with another of his own for a 22-17 advantage Then he drilled two more threes to key a 16-6 run late in the first half to open up a 40-25 lead.

Loyola led 40-27 at half before extending the lead to 20 on Denzel Brito’s layup off a steal with 12:52 remaining.

Averkamp scored on a jumper for a 57-37 lead before sophomore guard Corey Gray, who played 17 second-half minutes, hit a three-pointer to begin a 20-5 run.

Finally, Kreps hit a three-pointer with 8:09 to play and the Flames’ deficit was down to 59-45. Kreps scored on a layup off a steal and hit three free throws to close the gap to 62-52 with 4:34 to go.

“It really came down to just playing basketball,” said Kreps of UIC’s late surge. “We weren’t worried about making turnovers or making a dumb play, we were just out there playing.”

Paul Carter, who had 10 points and 11 rebounds, scored on a layup to cut the gap to eight and Kreps followed with a three from the top of the key to pull the Flames to within 62-57 with 1:33 left.

The Flames (5-15, 0-8) had two opportunities to slice the deficit to two, but Kreps and Paul Carter each missed threes. Loyola did just enough to put the game away by making 6 of 13 free throws in the final minute.

“Give UIC credit at the end,” Loyola coach Jim Whitesell said. “We had a 20-point lead and they came back and Kreps had that shot there, it looked like it was going down. That’s a rivalry game. Howard’s group is going to keep after it.”

The Flames shot the ball well in both halves, ending the game at 49 percent from the field. They won the rebounding battle 36-32 after a slow start in that department, but committing 18 turnovers and letting the Ramblers shoot 42 percent from three-point land was killer.

“We saw two different teams out there for some reason,” Moore said. “We get in a hole, that’s when we think we need to play a little harder. I don’t get that, I really don’t. Hopefully we can address that this week and really put that to bed.”

A DIFFERENT LOOK: Moore started freshman Shawn King for the first time while sophomore Corey Gray played 17 minutes. King did not score and missed his only shot attempt in 16 minutes. Gray scored five points off the bench.

“Just trying to look for guys who are hungry,” Moore said. “I’m searching. I’ve been searching all season long. We’re just finding guys who are hungry and driven. Corey has earned opportunities to get out there and play. I just threw out there to see what he can do. He didn’t hurt us. We’ve given a lot of guys rope, we’ve given guys opportunities. ”

Junior forward Dorian Tyler also played 12 minutes while scoring four points and grabbing two rebounds. However, junior forward Paris Carter, who had played in 18 of the Flames’ first 19 games, did not play.

FLAMES FLICKERS: Paul Carter recorded his eighth double-double of the season, but he also committed five of the Flames’ 18 turnovers. … The Flames dropped to 2-24 on the road over the last two seasons. … UIC senior center K.C. Robbins provided a solid game of 10 points and five rebounds off the bench.