UIC 94, PARKSIDE 74
The score does not indicate how close the Parkside men's basketball team was to Division I UIC for 30+ minutes of Saturday's game, which will go as an exhibition for the Rangers. Parkside led for nearly 8-minutes in the second half, but the Flames got red-hot from the floor and pulled away from the Rangers in the end. D'Aaron Owens and Brandon Trimble each had 16 points to pace the Parkside offense.
 
FUN FACT
While the Rangers have now lost the last two games against UIC, Parkside won the first two matchups in the series history, which is now tied at 2-2. The Rangers won a 79-73 game over the Flames in the 2004-05 season under head coach Luke Reigel.
 
HEAR FROM COACH REIGEL
"We talked about trying to take a step forward from our Michigan trip and for 30 minutes I thought we did that," 16^th year head coach Luke Reigel said. "We were very disciplined on offense, we were very patient and got good shots and that's what got us the lead. With 10 to 12 minutes to go, they cranked up the pressure and we didn't handle it very well."
 
"It looked like Parkside basketball for 30 minutes. We were moving the ball, taking good shots and doing enough on the defensive end. We were sticking to our system but they were going to make some plays."
 
FIRST HALF
In the early minutes of the first half, the Rangers stayed right with UIC. After a Jonathan Morrobel layup with 14:45 to play, Parkside trailed 13-10, but the Flames got red-hot, hitting four straight 3-pointers and then led 27-12 with 12:41 in the first half. Parkside didn't back down, playing good defense and hitting shots en route to a 16-3 run, bringing the score to 30-28 UIC. Trimble gave the Rangers their first lead of the game with a layup off a UIC turnover with :44-seconds to play, but as the halftime buzzer sounded the Flames' Godwin Boahen hit a running 3-pointer to put UIC up 39-37 at the break.
Parkside went 4-for-7 from beyond the arc while UIC went 8-of-14 in the first half. The Rangers were +3 in the turnover battle and -3 in rebounding.
 
SECOND HALF
Early in the second half, the Rangers were the better team, taking a lead on a triple by D'Aaron Owens and holding the lead for nearly 8:00 from 18:14 to 10:26. The Flames grabbed the lead back on a dunk and didn't look back, using a 12-2 run to take a 74-64 lead and then later an 8-0 run to jump out to an 82-67 advantage. The Flames went on a stretch where they went 8-of-8 from the floor during the run.
 
A LOOK AT THE STATS
The Rangers were led by the duo of Trimble/Owens, who each had 16 points. Trimble went 10-for-10 from the free throw line while Owens hit three 3-pointers. Adam Bonk went 3-for-4 from downtown for 13 points while Joey St. Pierre had nine points. Parkside finished at 44.2-percent from the floor and UIC shot 60-percent and went 11-for-21 from beyond the arc. UIC went +4 in rebounding and +3 in turnovers. The Green & White got a big lift at the free-throw line, going 20-for-26 while the Flames went 11-of-21.
 
 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Rangers welcome in Grand Valley State on Thursday, Nov. 29 for the GLIAC home opener at DeSimone Gymnasium. This will also be Black Out The Den night where the first 500 students will get a free t-shirt.