Men's Basketball Championship - Second Round

March 4, 2006

(#3 seed) UW-Green Bay 76, (#6 seed) UIC 66
Milwaukee, Wis. (AP) - Freshman Ryan Tillema scored 22 points and Ryan Evanochko had a career-high 14 assists as UW-Green Bay defeated UIC 76-66 in quarterfinals of the Horizon League tournament Friday.

The Phoenix (15-15) advance to play Butler in the semifinals Saturday. The Flames (16-15) were led by Jovan Stefanov with 19 points.

Tillema, coming off a career-high 23 points in the Phoenix's last game Feb. 25 against Cleveland State, made 7-of-11 shots, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range.

Evanochko, the team's leading scorer, had only two turnovers to go with the assists. The junior point guard had one more assist than the entire UIC team.

The Phoenix, the tournament's No. 3 seed, led the entire second half, not allowing the Flames to come closer than six points after halftime. They scored seven consecutive points late, opening a 76-61 lead on Aswan Minatee's short jumper with 53 seconds left.

Green Bay used a 15-3 run late in the first half to take control of the game.

Terry Evans, who had 14 points, hit a baseline jumper to give the Phoenix the lead for good, 25-23. Mike Schachtner's three-pointer capped the run, giving Green Bay a 34-26 lead with 2:10 left in the half.

Box Score

(#4 seed) Loyola 64, (#5 seed) Detroit 55
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Brandon Woods scored 16 points and J.R. Blount 15, and they both fueled a decisive second half run as Loyola defeated Detroit 64-55 in a Horizon League Tournament quarterfinal game Friday night.

Fourth-seeded Loyola (19-10) won its fifth game in a row to gain some revenge on No. 5 seed Detroit (16-16), which had defeated the Ramblers in the quarterfinals the last two seasons. Blake Schilb added 12 points for Loyola. Detroit was led by Brandon Cotton with 20 points and Ben Green with 16.

Loyola advances to a semifinal Saturday night against top-seeded UW-Milwaukee (19-8), which won the conference regular season title for the third straight season.

Trailing by one point at the half, Woods made a basket and Schilb a 3-pointer to open the second period and put the Ramblers ahead for good at 27-23.

After the Titans had pulled within two points at 31-29 on a basket by Torvoris Baker with 16:11 left to play, the Ramblers reeled off 21 straight points to lead 52-29. Woods scored 10 points and Blount 8 in the scoring run that put the game away.

Detroit finally broke the deadly drought with a 3-pointer by Jon Goode with 7:59 left to make it 52-32.

Loyola's Majak Kou hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left in the first period to cut Loyola's lead at the half to 23-22.Cotton scored three straight baskets to break open a tight game and put the Titans on top for good in the first half at 21-17.

Box Score

Notes and quotes:

UW-Green Bay Head coach Tod Kowalczyk on breaking down UIC's zone
"We knew coming out that they were going to play us in a zone, probably for all 40 minutes, which they did. The key to that zone was Ryan Evanochko. He did an unbelievable job of being aggressive. For him to have 14 assists, that shows he's a complete player. So many situations to score, but his role tonight was to distribute."

On peaking at the right time
"We're a young basketball team, and what we've been trying to do is veer this team to get better as the season progresses, and we have done that. We've gotten better in a lot of ways, particularly on the defensive end. On the offensive end, our execution continues to get better as well."

On overcoming an in-game injury to Josh Lawrence
"With the depth we have, whether her plays or doesn't play is not the story. The story is that we have some guys that are playing some good basketball."

Junior Ryan Evanochko on beating the zone
"In practice, we worked a lot on that zone. Our practice and repetition helped me find openings in the zone and when the time came in the game, I was prepared."

On possibly missing Josh Lawrence Saturday
"He is a starter and one of the oldest players on the team, but we have had so many people coming up well off the bench and stepping their game up at the end of the season and in the tournament, as well. As bad as I want him to play with us, I think we can be fine without him playing."

Freshman Ryan Tillema on his strong second half
"We would set a screen on the top guys in the zone, which gave Ryan (Evanochko) the opportunity to take on two people and, as soon as they collapse, find the open guy. He is very good at getting into the gaps and creating for other people. He was making shots for other people."

UIC Head Coach Jimmy Collins on the loss
"Tonight's game, (UW-Green Bay) really back us into a corner and made us shoot a lot of jump shots and we are not a jump-shooting team. We didn't shoot the ball well and they shot extremely well. I thought Green Bay played a very good game on both ends of the floor."

On the play of Rocky Collum
"You know your well is dry when there is water missing. We needed Rocky all year, he brings the outside shooting and the court savvy to the table for. He tried to come back earlier and hurt his leg. So we tried to move on. With him out there, it certainly added to our offense and to our team chemistry. I thought it was pretty obvious that we missed him all year."

Notes ...

- UWGB is now 21-18 in the post-season and 11-10 in the league tournament.

- Junior Ryan Evanochko finished with 14 assists, one shy of the Horizon League Tournament record of 15 and tied for second in UWGB history.

- Evanochko has also now set a school Division I record for assists in a season by a junior, totaling 158 on the year. He passed Tony Bennett's 1990-91 effort of 153 assists.

- Freshman Terry Evans tallied his 50th steal of the season, setting a new team freshman mark.

- UWGB had four players reach double figures on offense.

- UWGB leads the all-time series with UIC, 40-32

- The Phoenix surpassed their school record for three-pointers in a season and now have 526.

- UWGB moved past 200 threes in a season for the third time in school history and are now 18 behind the school record of 219.

- This is the first league tournament win for the Phoenix under Tod Kowalczyk.

- Despite the loss, UIC is still 8-3 in its last 11 league tournament games.

- Head coach Jimmy Collins is now 11-8 in league tournament games.

- Rocky Collum hit 3-of-6 from three-point range and finished the year by making 13 of his last 20 tries from three-point range.

- Jovan Stefanov tied his season-high with 19 points.

Loyola Head Coach Jim Whitesell on his team getting good balance offensively
"When you look at the teams that are winning, like Detroit against Cleveland State Tuesday, they had five players in double figures. We talked about getting the ball moving and making it work for them, it makes us a better basketball team."

On facing top-seeded UW-Milwaukee in the next round
"Obviously we know we'll have to play great to beat UW-Milwaukee, we know that. This is the team that went to the Sweet 16 last year, won the league the last three years and now we're playing the tournament here. I thought we played a good game against them here and at our place, they just frustrated us."

On his team getting to the glass
"Rebounds were paramount for us. Look at Majak, he had nine rebounds and didn't have a great night offensively, but he had to guard Cotton and that's a lot of energy there. When we rebound we play well."

Freshman J.R. Blount on his team playing better in the second half
"I think we were getting into their type of game, but coach told us at halftime to settle down and that was a breath of fresh air when Majak came and hit that three going into the half. I think we then settled down and executed. That led to a lot of baskets in transition."

Junior Blake Schilb on the second-half effort
"We regrouped at halftime and I was frustrated with myself and the way I had played and some turnovers I had. We came out, regrouped and knew there were two halves. We did a good job of coming out the first five minutes and pulling away."

Detroit Head Coach Perry Watson on the loss
"We tried to pull a spark from somewhere. The guys we had out there at the end were the guys that laid it on the line."

On the troubles in the second half
"The big thing was that it was a defensive letdown. We work everyday on that. It was one of a couple of breakdowns in that first half that hurt us and didn't let us pull away. We tried to minimize those breakdowns in the second half. Whether it was lack of intensity of lackadaisical, I don't know."

Notes ...

- Loyola now leads the all-time series with Detroit, 66-44.

- Brandon Woods' team-high 16 points for Loyola were a career-high.

- Kye Pattrick fell one block shy of the Horizon League Tournament record of five blocks in a game.

- Loyola came back from a halftime deficit for just the fourth time in 12 tries this season.

- Loyola's 64 points mark the fewest scored by the Ramblers in a win thisseason. The previous low was 68 vs. Detroit Jan. 28.

- This is Loyola's second-straight league semifinal appearance. The Ramblers beat UIC in overtime in the quarterfinals last season.

- Detroit fails to reach the semifinals of the league tournament for the first time since the 1996-97 season.

- Detroit is now 14-5 when leading at halftime this season.

- The Titans had eliminated Loyola in two of the last three league tournaments, including in 2002-03 at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

- Brandon Cotton surpassed 500 points for the season.