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Hot Vikings pull away

CSU HITS 10 3-POINTERS

February 14, 2014

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Senior Hayden Humes scored 13 points Thursday night after missing the Flames’ last four games.

An aggressive Hayden Humes returned to action Thursday night, but it wasn’t enough for UIC to snap its historic drought.

The-6-foot-8 senior forward, who had missed the previous four games with an eye injured, scored a team-high 13 points while decked out in protective goggles, but the Flames couldn’t muster enough offense to keep up with hot-shooting Cleveland State.

Trey Lewis scored 18 points, including four of his team’s 10 3-pointers as the host Vikings (18-9, 9-3 Horizon League) extended UIC’s skid to 14 games with a 73-53 victory at the Wolstein Center.

Cleveland State hit10 of 18 on 3-pointers and shot 50 percent from the field overall to subdue the Flames (5-20, 0-11). Bryn Forbes chipped in 15 points and Jon Harris added 15 points, including three 3-pointers, to go with nine rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals.

Humes was only 3-for-10 from the field and 2-for-8 from 3-point range, but he showed an aggressiveness that has been all too rare from the Valparaiso, Ind., native. He got to the foul line six times, making five, in his first appearance since the Jan. 22 game against CSU at the Pavilion.

Senior guard Kelsey Barlow added 12 points for the Flames, who also got nine points from sophomore forward Jake Wiegand and a season-high seven rebounds from junior center Will Simonton.

Lewis hit back-to-back threes to put the Vikings up 21-11 with 6:37 left to play in the first half, but like during most of this losing streak, UIC didn’t go away easily.

Freshman Pat Birt drilled a 3-pointer to kick-start a 12-4 Flames run to close the deficit to 27-25 in the final minute of the half. Humes contributed seven points during the spurt.

Sebastian Douglas nailed a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Vikings a 30-25 lead at halftime.

Wiegand scored on a layup and Marc Brown knocked down a mid-range jumper to close UIC’s deficit to 30-29 in the first minute of the second half, but the Vikings finally were able to pull away.

Harris drilled a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight points during a 16-4 blitz to put CSU ahead by double digits for the rest of the night. Forbes closed the run with a deep 3-pointer for a 52-36 lead with 9:52 remaining in the contest.

FLAMES FLICKERS: The Flames committed just 11 turnovers and lost the rebound battle by only five (37-32), but they shot just 35.4 percent from the field. … CSU swept the regular-season series for the sixth straight season. The Vikings have now won 14 of the last 15 meetings with UIC’s only victory coming in last year’s Horizon League tournament – a 82-59 win at the Pavilion. …UIC’s last win at the Wolstein Center came on Dec. 26, 2006 when Othyus Jeffers had 21 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists in the Flames’ 72-62 win.

In other recent news:
Green Bay 81, UIC 70: Skid hits unlucky 13 (2/7/14)
Valparaiso 70, UIC 46: Wintry freeze continues, 12th straight loss (2/2/14)
Detroit 74, UIC 68: Singin’ Motown blues (1/30/14)
Oakland 76, UIC 75: A dagger to the heart (1/26/14)
Cleveland State 74, UIC 64: Bitter cold streak hits nine (1/23/14)
Green Bay 69, UIC 64: Sykes the homecoming king (1/20/14)
Milwaukee 67, UIC 63: Another big lead disappears (1/17/14)
Wright State 58, UIC 53: Flames can’t escape funk (1/13/14)
Youngstown State 75, UIC 62: Second-half slippage continues (1/8/14)