Men’s basketball team falls at tournament

Jake Wiegand was named to the All-Tournament team. Photo: Steve Woltmann

Cheer on the Flames as the men’s basketball team takes on Grand Canyon at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the UIC Pavilion. Students are free with i-card.

The men’s basketball team (1-4) was defeated by Southern Illinois (2-3) in the final day of competition at the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic Sunday, 67-60. The team lost its other two games in the tournament, against Kent State, 78-60, Saturday and versus Yale, 70-58, Friday.

Junior Jake Wiegand was named to the All-Tournament team. He averaged 13.7 points and 5.7 rebounds during the three games while shooting 53.3 percent from the field.

Fifth-year transfer Jay Harris piloted the Flames with 19 points Sunday. Junior D’Juan Miller tallied a Division I career high with 16 points.

Despite facing a 21-point deficit, UIC continued to fight and pulled within seven points of the Salukis during the game’s final seconds. The Flames outscored SIU in the final period, 39-32, after being down 14 points at halftime.

“Our first half needs to be at the same level as our second half,” head coach Howard Moore said. “We have become a good second half team and now we need to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball.”

Southern Illinois was superb from the field in the first half, hitting 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) and 4-of-7 (57.1 percent) from three-point range.

The Flames’ defense intensified their pressure in the second half and forced 10 SIU turnovers, converting those miscues into 11 points.