Flames clean glass, wipe out Cleveland State

(2/21/03)

To break a two-game Horizon League losing streak, the UIC Flames decided to resort to their "Windex" game plan in Cleveland Thursday night.

Returning to the site where it won the Horizon League tournament, UIC dominated the glass as the Flames took an 87-74 victory over Cleveland State at Goodman Arena.

Led by Kyle Kickert and Armond Williams, the Flames (17-7, 10-4) out-rebounded the Vikings 45-23. Kickert (pictured) secured a career-best 12 rebounds to go with nine points, while Williams had his ninth double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Cedrick Banks led UIC with 27 points on 11-of-25 shooting, while Jonathan Schneiderman added 14 points, including four three-pointers. Martell Bailey contributed 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds and Aaron Carr put in 11 points for the Flames, who just about sew up third place in the Horizon.

Cleveland State (8-18, 3-10) led 29-22 before the Flames ended the first half with a 22-7 spurt to take a 44-36 advantage at the break. UIC took the lead for good at 35-32 on Bailey’s three-pointer with 3:56 left in the first half.

Percell Coles scored 21 points and Pape Badiane added 14 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots for the Vikings, which stayed close, thanks to 62 percent shooting in the first half.

UIC held the Vikings to 43 percent from the field in the second half and dominated the offensive glass throughout the game, 22-8. The Flames shot 52 percent for the game.

Badiane’s dunk with 12:36 left in the opening half gave the Vikings their largest lead at 21-12, but it was all Flames from there.

UP NEXT: UIC welcomes Bowling Green for Bracket Buster Saturday at the Pavilion. The game tips off at 4 p.m. on ESPN2 and ESPN Radio 1000. Falcon point guard and Chicago-area Jabari Mattox will not play, however, because he suffered a knee injury in practice Wednesday and is out for the season.