Flames suffer embarrassing defeat

UW-PARKSIDE MAKES 14 3-POINTERS

(12/22/04)

So much for a cupcake game.

A band of struggling basketball players from Division II Wisconsin-Parkside descended on the UIC Pavilion on Tuesday night to face a UIC Flames team that was supposedly hungry to end a two-game losing streak.

Forty minutes later, the visiting Rangers were on top of the world, while the Flames were left scratching their heads.

The Flames couldn’t stop Parkside’s 6-foot-3 junior guard Gareth Malkowski, who set an arena record with eight three-pointers, and poured in 33 points as the Rangers (3-7) pulled off a stunning 79-73 victory.

“It was one of those nights you dream of,” said Malkowski of Oak Creek, Wis., a southern suburb of Milwaukee. “When you let go of the ball, and it feels like it was going in every time.”

While the Rangers were walking on air, the Flames’ coaches kept the team in the locker room for half-an-hour after the game.

UIC coach Jimmy Collins ripped his team’s defensive effort on Malkowski.

“It was basically target practice,” Collins said. “Once he got on a roll and started hitting, it would almost take an act of Congress – or a hand in his face – to stop hitting them. Most of the time, he shot freely.”

The Rangers shot 14-of-28 from three-point range, including 8-of-13 for Malkowski. UIC struggled again in the second half offensively, slipping to 38 percent shooting after making 49 percent in the first half.

With their lackadaisical defense and erratic offense, the Flames could not take advantage of a 44-28 rebounding advantage.

Collins admitted the team lacked fire, and the lack of urgency, especially in the final minutes, proved that.

“Nobody had any energy,” Collins said. “We played like we didn’t want to be here. The first thing that goes [with that mentality] is your defense. Once you let a team get on a roll like that where they think, ‘Hey, we can beat these guys’ it takes more than just a notion to stop that.”

UIC (3-6) opened a quick 8-2 lead in the first four minutes, but the game became a struggle soon thereafter with neither team going on a sustained run.

The Flames took a 34-28 lead on an Elliott Poole layup with 5:04 left, but the Rangers closed the half strong, outscoring 14-5 for a 42-39 Rangers advantage.

The game continued to be a seesaw affair in the second half. When Armond Williams slammed home an alley-oop dunk off a feed from Cedrick Banks with 13:06 left, the Flames took a 55-52 lead and thought they had seized control of the contest.

UW-Parkside called a timeout, and Malkowski buried a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to tie the game at 55-55.

Banks scored off a post-up move to put the Flames back ahead 63-60 with 9:06 left, but Malkowski answered with his sixth triple of the game to tie it again.

Malkowski nailed his seventh three-pointer to put the Rangers up 69-65 with 5:35 to go. After Justin Bowen’s putback, Malkowski hit his eighth three for a 72-67 lead with 4:36 left.

Poole’s layup pulled UIC within 72-69, but back-to-back layups by Kevin Boutelle and Kyle Clark – the last coming with 2:59 left – put Parkside up 76-69 and effectively sealed the Flames’ fate.

“It’s always great for our program to play a Division I team,” UW-Parkside coach Luke Reigel said. “This is the fourth one we’ve played this year. I think the awe of playing Division Is wasn’t there anymore.”

Joining Malkowski in double figures was Clark, who had 13 points and three three-pointers, and Tyrone Deacon, who added 11 points.

Williams led the Flames with 17 points, while Banks had 15 points on just 6-of-18 shooting. Poole added 12 points and seven rebounds, while Bowen contributed 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

It was UIC’s first loss to a non-Division I team since a 91-85 loss to Concordia (N.Y.) in 1986.

“Parkside really played well, and they were able to catch us at a point where we have no camaraderie, no leadership,” Collins said. “We’ve got a whole team that’s licking their wounds about things that totally unrelated to the game of basketball.

“We’ve got our hands full with trying to pull them back together.”

MALKOWSKI’S THE MAN: Malkowski mentioned in the postgame press conference that he was trying to play like UIC’s Banks. Parkside ran plays for Malkowski off screens, somewhat similar to what the Flames do for Banks.

“I was trying to play like him, to be honest,” he said.

Malkowski wears the No. 23 and was asked if he picked it because of a certain former NBA superstar.

“Actually no, it’s for my birthday, September 23rd,” Malkowski said.

“There aren’t really any memorable No. 23s for the Bucks,” Reigel quipped.

Malkowski even won over some of the Flames' faithful in the final moments of the game. With 31.8 seconds left and Malkowski on the line, several UIC fans started a “transfer” chant.

FINDING THEMSELVES: When asked to compare this year’s December slump with last year’s, Collins pointed to the lack of leadership.

“It was never like this last year. Last year, we had guys like Martell [Bailey] and Joe Scott, who would help glue things back together. Right now, we don’t have anything that can do that.

“No one stepped up and said anything in our meeting [after the game]. Right now, we’ve got the blind leading the blind.”

UP NEXT: The Flames will try to end their losing streak with a game against Saginaw Valley State at the Pavilion at 7:30 on Thursday night.

The Division II Cardinals are 5-5 and are led by 6-foot-6 forward Kenneth Nether, who averages 12.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

The game can be heard via the internet at www.espnradio1000.com and www.uicflames.com.