Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 27)
UIC 58, Northern Illinois 46
Bowling Green 70, Detroit 65
UIC and Detroit split results on Tuesday night, as the Horizon League improved its record to 6-3 against the Mid-American Conference this season.
UIC 58, Northern Illinois 46
Continuing to play lock-down defense, UIC allowed Northern Illinois just 0.72 points per possession in a 58-46 win in DeKalb, Ill.
With the win, UIC (5-1) improved to 5-1 for the first time since the 2008-09 season; a win on Sunday would make the Flames 6-1 for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign.
Hanging its hat on defense and ball possession, the Flames held Northern Illinois to a 16-for-49 mark from the field; UIC was especially dogged on the perimeter, as the Huskies shot just 4-for-16 from three-point range.
While the Flames shot just 19-for-48 on the night, they controlled the interior behind Josh Crittle and Hayden Humes. Crittle finished with 10 points, consistently getting to the free-throw line. The big man added five assists and six rebounds to his effort, posting a season-high efficiency-per-possession of 0.364.
Meanwhile, Humes was perfect from two-point range, going 5-of-5 as he carved NIU with a series of jumpers from the elbow. The junior finished with 18 points, knocking down 2-of-3 three-pointers to supplement his effort.
UIC trailed just once in the game, and after Marc Brown’s layup 4:56 into the contest put the Flames up, 7-5, UIC led the rest of the way. Northern Illinois would close with 38-33 midway through the second half, but Humes slid behind the three-point line off a screen and knocked down his final three of the game off a feed from Talton to restore the eight-point lead for the Flames.
Humes and Crittle were joined by Daniel Barnes and Gary Talton in double figures, as the seniors added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Bowling Green 70, Detroit 65
In the middle of its three-game road trip, Detroit fell behind early and could not get over the hump in a 70-65 loss at Bowling Green.
Detroit (2-3) dropped its second consecutive game, shooting just 28.8 percent in the first half before a 13-1 run brought the Titans within 34-30 at the half. Ray McCallum took over down the stretch, scoring 12 of his 16 first-half points ahead of Doug Anderson’s highlight-reel dunk to close the half.
Despite winning three of the four factors that typically decide a game (turnover rate, effective field-goal percentage, offensive rebounding rate and free-throw rate), the Titans could not overcome an effective field-goal percentage of 40.2 percent, which trailed Bowling Green’s 55.2-percent mark.
Typically able to average more than one point per possession, Detroit was limited to 0.97 points per possession while allowing 1.10 to the Falcons.
The Titans took their lone lead of the game with 13:55 to play, as a McCallum dunk off a feed from P.J. Boutte put Detroit ahead, 41-40. However, a four-point play from Bowling Green’s Jordan Crawford restored the Falcon’s advantage on the next possession.
Crawford finished with a game-high 26 points.
Down the stretch, Detroit closed within a single possession on three separate occasions, but could not tie the game, with Nick Minnerath missing a game-tying attempt at a three-pointer with 59 seconds to play.
McCallum led the Titans, posting 25 points to record his fourth 20-plus point effort in five games this year. Minnerath joined McCallum with 17, while Anderson added 10.
As a team, Detroit shot just 21-for-56 and was 3-of-17 from three-point range.
Tags: Detroit Mercy - Men's Basketball · UIC - Men's Basketball
