Men’s basketball falls to No. 1 Green Bay

Marc Brown heads down the court. The Flames host Cleveland State tonight. Photo: Steve Woltmann

The men’s basketball team (5-14, 0-5) used an early 13-2 run in the second half to take the lead against first-place Green Bay (15-3, 5-0) Sunday, but the Phoenix outscored the Flames, 8-1, in the final four minutes to record their 10th straight win, 69-64.

UIC took the lead for more than 14 minutes in the second half before Keifer Sykes’ dunk spurred the Phoenix rally.

The team hosts Cleveland State at 7 p.m. today at the UIC Pavilion.

Freshman Pat Birt paced UIC with 13 points. Senior Jordan Harks added 11 points, including 10 in the second half.

“I was proud of how our guys kept fighting,” UIC Head Coach Howard Moore said.  “We came into this game expecting to win and you saw that mentality on the court.  Think of how easy it would have been for us to fold and let Green Bay walk away with an easy victory.

“There’s something special here with this group and we’re getting closer to realizing its full potential.”

Senior Hayden Humes scored his 115th three-pointer during the game, needing just one more to crack UIC’s all-time Top 10 leaderboard.