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Flames cooked under pressure CSU DEFENSE FORCES UIC TO WILT March 9, 2009
And a cold, cruel reality it was as a nine-point lead disappeared in final 5 minutes of UIC’s 67-64 loss to Cleveland State in the Horizon quarterfinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Friday night. The Flames (16-15), who lost twice to the Vikings in the regular season, seemingly took control of the game with a 59-50 advantage with 5:00 on the clock after two Josh Mayo free throws, but CSU unleashed its “diamond press,” forcing UIC to commit four turnovers during a 15-2 run, which gave the Vikings a 64-60 lead with 1:11 to play. UIC made a furious attempt to force overtime, but Jeremy Buttell missed two three-pointers and Chris Buchanan’s triple try rattled off the rim at the buzzer, ending the Flames’ up-and-down season. “This game was almost the storybook of how our season has gone all year,” UIC coach Jimmy Collins said. “We were able to compete and get a lead, but holding that lead has been problem all year. The guys really put their hearts into it and put forth a good effort.” Mayo was held in check from the field, but made a school-record 17 free throws out of 20 attempts in a physical, foul-plagued battle, to finish with 24 points in his final game as a Flame. Robo Kreps added 16 points on 5-for-7 shooting and Rob Eppinger had another strong effort with 11 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots.
UIC trailed by as many as 11 in the first half, but battled back to cut its deficit to 29-27 at the break. The Flames then frustrated CSU with a 2-3 zone defense and quietly built a nine-point edge on several occasions in the second half. “We didn’t do what we were supposed to do in the first half,” CSU coach Gary Waters said. “We let (UIC) off the hook and let them get back in it.” The Flames took their first lead of the game when Kreps nailed a deep three-pointer while being fouled with 14:14 left. He converted the four-point play for a 35-33 UIC lead. Jeremy Buttell hit a layup and Mayo knocked down two free throws to cap an 8-0 burst for a 39-33 advantage. CSU cut its deficit to 46-44 with 9:13 to play on George Tandy’s two free throws, but the Flames then threatened to run away. “You can’t relax against Cleveland State, they play rough and tumble basketball,” Collins said. Able to break the Vikings’ press with some success midway through the second half, UIC scored nine of the game’s next 11 points. Eppinger scored on a post move to give the Flames a 55-46 lead with 6:02 remaining. The Vikings turned up their pressure and the Flames began to unravel—on both sides of the ball. Spencer Stewart fouled J’Nathan Bullock on a three-pointer, and even when Bullock missed two of three free throw attempts, UIC failed to block him out as Bullock grabbed the offensive rebound, leading to two more free throws. “I don’t think we got too comfortable (with the lead),” Eppinger said. “The turnovers and rebounds were a big factor, converting those turnovers really hurt us.” A Bullock tip-in moved the Vikings to within one, but Buttell converted a layup at the other end to restore the lead back to 61-58 with 2:20 to play. Moments later, Cole knifed through the Flames’ defense for a layup and a foul. He converted the three-point play to tie the game at 61-61. Then Stewart was stripped by Tandy, who fed the ball to Cole as the Vikings took the lead with 1:49 to play. “We just basically beat ourselves,” Mayo said. “Threw some bad passes, kind of rushed it a bit.” Mayo then appeared to beat the press, but threw the ball away as stumbled off-balance into the frontcourt. Tandy hit a layup on CSU’s ensuing possession for a four-point lead. “It’s about going hard and communicating, knowing who their key guys are,” said Jackson of the Vikings’ press. “We were fortunate to get these steals there at the end.” “We focused a lot on late-game situations this week in practice,” Cole added. “It was just the result of the hard work in practice.” UIC didn’t give up, however, as Mayo drew a two-shot foul on a drive to the basket and canned two more free throws to cut the score to 65-63 with 1:01 left.
The Flames were forced to foul Cole with 22.5 seconds left and he made both free throws for a three-point lead, prompting Collins to call UIC’s final timeout. Collins put in his five best available perimeter shooters to set up the final play, opting to go for the three-pointer right away. After a few seconds, Buttell caught the ball from Kreps on the wing, turned and fired a three from the left wing, but missed. Buchanan corralled the rebound and got the ball back out to Buttell who missed again with 4 seconds left. Stewart was able to grab another offensive rebound and shoveled a quick pass out to Buchanan at the top of the key, but Buchanan’s shot barely missed at the buzzer. “We definitely wanted to put our shooters in the game,” Collins said. “As things went, we had three shots at the end.” It appeared the Vikings were going to run away early when they went on an 11-0 run to take a 16-5 lead with 12:41 left in the first half. However, UIC crawled back into the contest. The Flames ended the half on a 7-0, which included five points from Eppinger, to cut the deficit to two at intermission. UIC closed the season winners of six of its last eight games and took some hope to build on for next season despite the loss of seniors Mayo and VanderMeer. “I wasn’t ready to go home; I wanted to step up and play,” said Eppinger, a junior, who scored in double figures for the third straight game and four of five. “We all came together (down the stretch). It was a great experience for us. Now we know what we have to do next year.”
UIC sports information director John Jaramillo said that Boyd was a diagnosed with a concussion. Boyd also suffered a concussion during the Flames’ trip to Virgin Islands as a freshman after taking an errant elbow during a practice. CLOSING TIME: Mayo became just the fourth UIC player and 31st in Horizon League history to score 1,700 points. He finished his career with 1,718 points. Mayo had 266 career three-pointers, good for second all-time at UIC behind the 274 of Brian Hill (1988-92). His 398 free throws also ranks second all-time behind the 559 of Greg Olsen (1967-71). He had 141 steals, finishing eighth, five behind Cedrick Banks (2001-05). Mayo’s 371 assists puts him fourth all-time in that category. Mayo also finished as UIC’s most accurate free throw shooter in school history at 85.4 percent, barely ahead of Anthony Coomes’ 84.8 percent. The 17 free throws made against CSU tied UIC’s all-time mark of 17 (also held by Varis Purkilatis, Jan. 11, 1957) and set a new Horizon League tournament record. The 20 attempts is a new school record. VanderMeer struggled in his final game as a Flame, scoring four points on 1-for-6 shooting with six rebounds and two blocks. VanderMeer finished as the all-time leader in blocked shots for UIC and the Horizon League with 273 after recording two against CSU. He also wrapped up his three-year Flames’ career with 703 rebounds, ranking eighth all-time, just five behind Nate Chambers (1984-88) and seven behind Armond Williams (2001-05). TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE/RESULTS TUESDAY, MARCH 3 FIRST ROUND #3 Cleveland State 56, #10 Detroit 43 #7 UIC 73, #6 Youngstown State 68 #4 Wright State 68, #9 Valparaiso 56 #5 Milwaukee 77, #8 Loyola 68 FRIDAY, MARCH 6 SECOND ROUND AT INDIANAPOLIS #4 Wright State 80, #5 Milwaukee 70 #3 Cleveland State 67, #7 UIC 64 SATURDAY, MARCH 7 SEMIFINALS AT INDIANAPOLIS #1 Butler 62, #4 Wright State 57 #3 Cleveland State 73, #2 Green Bay 63 TUESDAY, MARCH 10 CHAMPIONSHIP #3 Cleveland State (24-10, 12-6) at #1 Butler (26-4, 15-3), 8 |
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