Flames play Dailey game, win on road

SENIOR HAS CAREER NIGHT AT CMU

November 29, 2007

Whoosh! photo Jermaine Dailey’s career night, which included four blocked shots, helped the Flames defeat Central Michigan.

The most prominent thing that six-foot-eight forward Jermaine Dailey was known for at UIC is his highlight-reel alley-oop slam dunks.

That was before Wednesday night’s game against Central Michigan.

Jermaine Dailey, who got the starting nod at power forward, recorded career highs of 10 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots as the Flames held off a late rally from the host Chippewas in a 65-52 victory in Mt. Pleasant, Mich.

Perhaps Dailey’s biggest moment came with 7:09 left in the game with a 17-point UIC lead melted to just three points. CMU guard Giordan Watson drove into the lane for a layup attempt and Dailey sprung into action with an empathic rejection.

“Jermaine is certainly the type of athlete who, when he is right, can be a great player,” UIC coach Jimmy Collins said on the Flames’ radio postgame show.

The Chippewas were on a 14-0 run when Dailey changed the tone of the game. On the Flames’ next possession, Dailey grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back to end CMU’s run. Then freshman Tori Boyd hit a three-pointer as UIC regained an eight-point lead at 54-46 and assumed control.

The Flames (3-3) led 49-32 with 10:30 left before the Chippewas (0-5) made their charge.

“We know that all teams make a run at some point and time,” Collins said. “It was up to us to step up and stop it.”

Scott VanderMeer recorded a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds and Josh Mayo kicked in 13 points for UIC, which snapped a three-game losing streak.

Watson led the Chippewas with 15 points and Marko Spica added 12.

The game was sloppy early as neither team could find its rhythm. UIC did have a 10-4 lead after a jumper by Robert Kreps, but CMU slowly crawled back and tied the game at 13-13 on a free throw by Justin Blevins.

With just under seven minutes before half, the Flames finally found themselves, embarking on a 14-2 run. Dailey started it with layup and Mayo, who had seven points in the spurt, capped it with a three-pointer, giving UIC a 27-15 advantage. The Flames took a 33-22 lead into intermission as VanderMeer hit a putback at the buzzer.

UIC began the second half on fire extending its lead to 17 on Robert Bush’s 18-foot jumper, but the Chippewas made their comeback. Watson scored 10 of CMU’s 14 points in the spurt that brought the Chippewas within three before Dailey’s game-changing block.

The Flames recovered to shoot 53 percent for the game to CMU’s 36 percent.

“This was a win we certainly needed,” Collins said. “What our guys need to understand is that we are a great team. We’re continuing to preach about how good we can be.”

Bush

PERSONNEL UPDATE: Bush finally played after missing the first five games of the season with an injured left knee. He came off the bench and scored four points on 2-for-4 shooting in 19 minutes of action.

“It was good to bring Robert back,” Collins said. “He’s got experience. He’s a tremendous athlete that knows how to play the game.” …

Boyd made his first collegiate start at small forward after missing the final game of the Paradise Jam against Wichita State with a concussion last week. Boyd had a mixed bag of productivity with nine points and six rebounds to go with six of UIC’s 18 turnovers. …

Senior guard Karl White Jr. did not play as he is nursing a calf injury. …

Sophomore Jeremy Buttell, who was benched in favor of Dailey, played just nine minutes off the bench and scored two points on 1-for-3 from the field.

POSTON, NEELY ON BOARD: The Flames now have their two early commitments for the Class of 2008 signed. Forward Jelani Poston and Zavion Neely signed their Letters of Intent during the signing period that ended last week, according to UIC sports information director John Jaramillo.

Poston is a 6-foot-5, 215-pound forward from Harmony Community in Cincinnati. He is originally from Chicago and played at Boys to Men last season, averaging 18 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Neely is a 6-foot-1 combo guard from Hope and is known to score in bunches.

The school needed to wait until proper approval within the athletic department to make the signings public and official.

ILLINOIS STATE PRIMER: Up next for the Flames is a trip to Normal for a game with Illinois State on Saturday night.

The Redbirds are 4-2 after an 81-49 whipping of Chicago State on Tuesday night as Levi Dyer had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Dyer, a 6-foot-11 senior center, is also comfortable on the perimeter and ISU will attempt to neutralize UIC’s 7-foot VanderMeer by pulling him away from the basket.

Sophomore guard Osiris Eldridge, from Phillips High School in Chicago, leads the Redbirds at 16.3 points per game. Senior forward Anthony Slack averages 13.2 points, while Dyer chips in with 10.3 points per game.

Dyer shoots 45 percent from three-point range and Eldridge hits at 44 percent clip.

ISU has defeated Missouri-St. Louis, Southeast Missouri State, UNC Wilmington and Chicago State and have lost to Indiana and Kent State.

Last season, ISU knocked off UIC 77-69 at the Pavilion on Dec. 23 – as the Flames played with heavy hearts after finding out that Collins had a taken a leave of absence from the team.

The Redbirds led the series 10-7, including a 4-2 mark at Redbird Arena. In the last meeting at Redbird Arena, Jovan Stefanov scored the tiebreaking layup in the final minute as the Flames took a 60-56 victory on Nov. 30, 2004.

The game will air live on WIND-AM 560 with a tip time of 7 p.m. It will be available on the Internet. Free audio streaming is available www.uicflames.com with Flames’ play-by-play man Adam Levinson and Kenny McReynolds on the call.