We take you now to mission control, where the countdown of Illinois-Chicago`s and Eastern Illinois` improbable dreams has reached T-1.
T as in tournament, NCAA variety. One as in more victory and the UIC Flames are there. Ditto Eastern. Hoop Heaven. The Big Boogaloo.
UIC coach Bob Hallberg had catagorized his team`s trip here as a mission, a mission for recognition in De Paul-minded Chicago.
Monday night`s 83-59 victory over Cleveland State in the Vikings` new Convocation Center got the Flames almost there, sending UIC against Eastern Illinois, 75-65 winner over No. 1-seed Green Bay in the first semifinal of the Mid-Continent tournament.
A victory Tuesday and UIC has its first NCAA berth. Ditto Eastern.
The two teams split their season series, UIC winning 68-67 at UIC, Eastern winning 81-76 in Charleston.
In UIC`s victory, Brian Hill scored 16 second-half points for a total of 19, and Kenny Williams added 19.
UIC took control when Hill started to hit everything from outside and when UIC held the Vikings without a field goal from the 8:20 mark until 2:21 remained.
In a lightning-quick first half that stood in sharp contrast to Sunday`s deliberate UIC victory over Northern Illinois, the Flames led 34-31 at the break.
UIC`s slim lead, however, wasn`t achieved without some trepidation. UIC star Hill missed his first three shots and the Flames were struggling offensively, falling behind 16-7 after Greg Allen hit back-to-back three-pointers for Cleveland State.
But freshman Drennon Jones came off the bench to hit back-to-back threes of his own and close the gap to 16-13. After that, Williams led UIC on a charge that gave the Flames a 32-29 lead with 1:21 to go. Williams had 13 points to lead UIC in the first half.
Gravell Craig, the Vikings` own elusive point guard, led Cleveland State with eight points. Cleveland State outrebounded the Flames 23-13, but UIC had forced 10 turnovers by intermission.
If UIC`s dream seemed improbable, so did Eastern Illinois`. Eastern was a team whose middle name all season had been Unrealized Expectations.
But led by the three-point shooting of Dave Olson (a tournament record six three-pointers and 23 points total), the Panthers (16-13) got to within one step of their first NCAA tournament berth by stunning Green Bay.
The loss may have ended a brilliant 25-4 season for the Phoenix, the tourney`s No. 1 seed, may have stopped Green Bay coach Dick Bennett one short of his career 300th victory, and may have put an end to the superb college career of Mid-Con player of the year Tony Bennett.
Green Bay still has an outside shot at an at-large berth thanks to its record, but the season-ending knee injury suffered by John Martinez may hold sway with the voters.
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But back to Eastern. Picked to finish second this year in the Mid-Con, the Panthers struggled home fifth.
But Monday night`s victory wasn`t even that huge a struggle.
Eastern led the entire game and, paced by its 70 percent (12 of 17)
three-point shooting blew out to a 59-44 lead with 6:15 to go in the game. Green Bay, hampered by Martinez`s absence, played catchup the entire way. Eastern held the Phoenix off by hitting six of eight free throws in the last 2 minutes.
”We showed maturity tonight,” said Eastern coach Rick Samuels. ”Our four seniors were determined not to fold. And our defensive intensity was as high as it`s been all season.”
”Tonight we knew we had to play an aggressive 40 minutes,” said Panther forward Barry Johnson (12 points). ”In the past we`ve played hard for 30-35 and then slacked off. We didn`t slack off tonight.”
Green Bay got 20 points from Bennett, but Bennett didn`t get much help. Martinez`s replacement, Dean Rondorf, had 11.