2008 Woodie Awards
Mayo still the story
Flames guard scores 29 in win
Ian Millette
Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Sports
Media Credit: Ryan CalacsanUIC junior guard Josh Mayo slashes to the hoop in the first half of the Flames 74-68 victory over Cleveland State. Mayo scored a game-high 29 points and became the 19th player in UIC history to score 1,000 career points with his first basket.
Coming off two straight losses on the road, the UIC men's basketball team (11-10, 5-5) rebounded with a hard-fought victory over the number two Horizon League team Cleveland State ( 14-8, 7-3), 74-68 Thursday night at the Pavilion.
The Flames came out inspired and ready to play, not allowing the Horizon League's Cinderella team any breathing room. Right from the tip-off, junior center Scott VanderMeer laid in six easy points on his way to scoring 14 points on the night. VanderMeer also added five blocked shots to his stat sheet this season.
The real story though, was the continuing dominance of UIC's smallest player junior guard Josh Mayo. Mayo, the top three-point shooter in the NCAA, recorded 29 points, hitting on four of five shots from beyond the arc.
The Flames trailed at halftime 31-27, as the defense got sloppy late in the first half, but responded nicely in the second session.
As the second half started, the Flames went on a 12-2 run, as Mayo hit back-to-back contested three point shots. In the ensuing moments of the Flames sizzling run that put them in the drivers seat for most of the second half, the Vikings would regain some liveliness as reserve guard Joe Davis (27 points) would hit a couple of threes to inch the Vikings back into contention.
Aside from Davis' strong play, the Vikings seemed unable to regain their poise which was lost in the opening minutes of the second half.
"We were undisciplined," said Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters.
Luckily for the Flames, the mistakes that the Vikings made allowed the UIC to score some easy transition points.
"We cleaned up on their faults and were able to cash in," said Mayo, who became the 19th player in UIC history to score 1,000 career points with his first basket of the night.
Also in milestone talk, senior Guard Robert Bush grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, and the Flames swatted 11 total shots, which ties a Pavilion record for a game.
The victory avenges a 68-51 loss at Cleveland on January 5, a game in which Mayo recorded only 11 points.
"This was a very good game for us against a very good team," said UIC head coach Jimmy Collins. "We learned from our mistakes from the first time we played. And we knew that we had to be tougher."
Next Saturday, the Flames will look to sweep the season series from Loyola, as they take on the Ramblers at 7 p.m. in the Gentile Center.
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The Flames came out inspired and ready to play, not allowing the Horizon League's Cinderella team any breathing room. Right from the tip-off, junior center Scott VanderMeer laid in six easy points on his way to scoring 14 points on the night. VanderMeer also added five blocked shots to his stat sheet this season.
The real story though, was the continuing dominance of UIC's smallest player junior guard Josh Mayo. Mayo, the top three-point shooter in the NCAA, recorded 29 points, hitting on four of five shots from beyond the arc.
The Flames trailed at halftime 31-27, as the defense got sloppy late in the first half, but responded nicely in the second session.
As the second half started, the Flames went on a 12-2 run, as Mayo hit back-to-back contested three point shots. In the ensuing moments of the Flames sizzling run that put them in the drivers seat for most of the second half, the Vikings would regain some liveliness as reserve guard Joe Davis (27 points) would hit a couple of threes to inch the Vikings back into contention.
Aside from Davis' strong play, the Vikings seemed unable to regain their poise which was lost in the opening minutes of the second half.
"We were undisciplined," said Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters.
Luckily for the Flames, the mistakes that the Vikings made allowed the UIC to score some easy transition points.
"We cleaned up on their faults and were able to cash in," said Mayo, who became the 19th player in UIC history to score 1,000 career points with his first basket of the night.
Also in milestone talk, senior Guard Robert Bush grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds, and the Flames swatted 11 total shots, which ties a Pavilion record for a game.
The victory avenges a 68-51 loss at Cleveland on January 5, a game in which Mayo recorded only 11 points.
"This was a very good game for us against a very good team," said UIC head coach Jimmy Collins. "We learned from our mistakes from the first time we played. And we knew that we had to be tougher."
Next Saturday, the Flames will look to sweep the season series from Loyola, as they take on the Ramblers at 7 p.m. in the Gentile Center.
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Kelvim
posted 2/10/08 @ 2:07 PM CST
Millette, I enjoy reading your work every week on the basketball team. Keep it up,
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