Men’s basketball team edged by Wright State

Kelsey Barlow scored a game-high 19 points Sunday. Photo: Steve Woltmann

The men’s basketball team (5-12, 0-3) held a 53-49 lead with less than five minutes to play at Wright State (11-8, 3-1) Sunday, but the Raiders ended the game on a 9-0 run to cement a 58-53 final score.

UIC hosts Milwaukee (12-6, 2-2) at 7 p.m. Thursday at the UIC Pavilion. The game will be broadcast live on Comcast SportsNet Chicago and ESPN3, with audio coverage on ESPN 1000.

Senior Kelsey Barlow scored a game-high 19 points and added eight rebounds. Junior Marc Brown chipped in with 14 points.

Senior AJ Pacher led Wright State with 17 points, 11 coming from the free throw line.

The Flames jumped out fast, shooting 5-of-7 from the floor in the early minutes and by the 10:24 mark had a 20-12 advantage.  The Raiders tightened their defense and fought their way back, trailing UIC at the break, 27-26.

Brown reached a milestone in the first half by surpassing the 600-career point plateau and led all scorers with 10 at half.  Senior Hayden Humes drained his 113th career three-pointer for UIC and now sits 11th on the Flames’ all-time leaderboard, needing just three more for the No. 10 spot.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair that witnessed five lead changes and four ties.  UIC was in front by six points early on after Jay Parker scored a three-pointer, his first of the season.

But Wright State executed an 8-2 run to tie the score at 36 with 13:07 left to play.  Minutes later a three-ball by Barlow ignited a 10-4 spurt for Flames and gave UIC a four-point lead with 4:43 on the clock. Wright State’s Reggie Arceneaux countered with a three that led nine straight WSU points to finish the game.

Senior Jordan Harks pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds as UIC out-rebounded Wright State, 36-28.