Box Score
UIC's Michael Diggins had a tip-in at the buzzer to lift the Flames to a 67-66 victory over the Youngstown State men's basketball team on Friday evening at Beeghly Center.
UIC improved to 8-4 overall and 5-2 in Horizon League play, while Youngstown State is 7-8 overall and 3-8 against conference opponents.
YSU's Naz Bohannon led all scorers with 20 points, and he added nine rebounds. Michael Akuchie notched a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Myles Hunter and Shemar Rathan-Mayes both had nine.
Rob Howard and Teyvion Kirk led UIC with 15 points apiece.
Youngstown State went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the first half, but it went 3-for-11 in the second half. The Penguins had four of those misses in the final minute, and the final miss led to UIC's winning bucket.
Bohannon missed a free-throw on a three-point play opportunity with YSU ahead 66-62 with 53.6 seconds left, and Jamie Ahale hit a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 66-65 with 38 seconds left. UIC fouled Daniel Ogoro in the backcourt, and he missed the front-end of a one-and-one. The Penguins got a stop on defense by forcing Diggins to miss with 12 seconds left, and Bohannon was fouled after grabbing the rebound. Bohannon came up empty on both attempts with 8.6 seconds remaining, and Diggins grabbed Kirk's wide attempt for the tip in at the buzzer.
YSU scored the game's first points on a Garrett Covington jumper one minute in, but UIC scored the next nine points to take a 9-2 lead with 15:43 on the clock. The margin was seven points again at 15-8 with 10:57 left when YSU scored the next seven points on a 3 by Rathan-Mayes, a Bohannon jumper and two free throws by Akuchie to tie the score at 15 with 8:45 left. YSU regained the lead at 19-18 on a Hunter basket with 5:57 remaining, and the lead grew to 27-20 on another Hunter basket at the 4:10 mark. The Penguins led 31-28 at halftime.
UIC took the lead at 34-33 at 18:01, and the lead changed hands nine times before the Flames made the first run of the half. Kirk's jumper at the 9:16 mark started a seven-point spurt by the Flames that put them ahead 58-51 with 7:56 remaining. But YSU's defense allowed just two points over the next 6:54, and the Penguins answered UIC's run with a 13-2 run to take a 64-60 lead.
Akuchie's three-point play with 6:24 remaining started the run, and two free throws by Rob Howard on UIC's next possession accounted for its only points during the field-goal drought. Rathan-Mayes tied the score at 60 at the 4:34 mark, and Bohannon's layup with 3:26 left put the Penguins ahead at 62-60. The YSU senior added another basket with 1:25 remaining to make the score 64-60, and his final bucket put the Penguins ahead 66-62 with 53.6 seconds left.
Youngstown State will try to bounce back on Saturday against the Flames at 5 p.m.
