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Ramblers Come Up Short at UIC

1/22/03
by John C. Thomas
The Ramblers had no answer for Armond Williams, but the Flames missed nearly half of their 27 free throws and barely survived a spirited Loyola effort Wednesday night at the UIC Pavilion. Loyola fought back from a 12-point deficit to take a late four point lead but faded down the stretch and lost their 12th straight at the Pavilion, 81-77.

The two teams played even through the first 13 minutes, but with Loyola leading 20-17 the Flames went on a 13-0 run behind physical inside play. During the Flames' run, Paul McMillan and Corey Minnifield were called for technical fouls, and UIC momentarily held a 10-2 advantage in fouls called. At the halftime buzzer, Kevin Clancy connected on a desperation three-pointer from 40 feet out, but the refs ruled it after the buzzer and UIC led at the break 39-30.

The Ramblers looked like a different team in the second half, as they used a zone defense to cut off some of UIC's easy inside scoring. With the Flames leading 51-41 and 14:09 left to play, the Ramblers went on a 13-4 run over the next 2:13 to cut the lead to one point. Two minutes later the Ramblers took a 61-59 lead, their first lead since it was 20-17.

But nothing comes very easily for the Ramblers at the Pavilion. The Flames answered back with six straight points, and the Ramblers' big men began picking up fouls that limited their defense. If the Flames made half of their missed free throws, they would have run away with the game.

With 5:05 left, Loyola led 71-65. But again, pesky UIC went on an 8-2 run to lead by two with less than two and a half minutes left. With the score tied at 75, Cedrick Banks hit a three pointer in the corner with 1:14 left giving UIC a lead they would never relinquish.

Armond Williams destroyed the Ramblers on both ends of the court, with career highs of 30 points and 15 rebounds. It seems like every year, some unlikely suspect has a career game against the Ramblers at the Pavilion: Joel Bullock, Theandre Kimbrough, Thor Solverson, etc. Cedrick Banks added 21 points for the Flames, with 17 of them coming in the second half.

David Bailey led the Ramblers with 20 points. Paul McMillan, Demetrius Williams and Kevin Clancy each had 15.

Loyola ends the first half of the conference season at 4-4, but the four losses have come on the road against the league's toughest teams: Butler, UIC, UWM, and Detroit. The Ramblers will play those four teams and UW-Green Bay at home in the second half of the season, and will have opportunities to pick up road victories at Cleveland State, Youngstown State, and Wright State. The Ramblers have a realistic chance of improving on last year's 9-7 conference record if they play the rest of their games with the same energy as tonight.