Box Score

CHICAGO (2/18/14) – Juwan Howard Jr. recorded his 13th 20-point performance of the season and freshman Jarod Williams poured in career-high 17 points as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team used an early second half run and some strong defense to extinguish the UIC Flames, 65-59, Tuesday night at the UIC Pavilion. With the win the Titans improved to a perfect 7-0 this season when holding opponents to under 60 points.

UIC (5-22, 0-13 HL) held a 36-34 lead at the half, before Detroit (13-15, 6-7 HL) erupted with a 10-0 run to start the second stanza and never looked back.

Howard finished with a game-high 20 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots, while Williams added 17 points and three steals. Sophomore Carlton Brundidge finished with 15 points, including 12 in the first half.

After the Titans extended their lead to 47-38 – their largest of the game – UIC used a 7-0 run to trim the lead to two, 47-45, with 10:25 left. Detroit answered back with five quick points from Howard, including a three-pointer from the right corner, to give the Titans a 52-45 lead with 9:23 remaining. The Flames would piece together a 12-5 run over the next five minutes, including back-to-back three-pointers from Kelsey Barlow and Pat Birt, to tie the score 57-57 with 4:43 left. But that was as close as the score would get as Detroit closed the game with an 8-2 run, which included four-straight points from Williams and three-straight free throws from Howard to seal the win.

UIC started the game on fire making 13 of its first 16 shots and scoring on its first 12 possessions to build a 24-15 lead with 11:25 remaining. A three-point play the old fashioned way from Brundidge would trim the Flames lead to six, 27-21 with 9:25 left, before UIC used a 7-4 run to go back up by nine, 34-25, with 7:23 left. Anton Wilson made a three-pointer from the right wing that started a 9-2 Detroit run to make the score 36-34 as both teams entered the locker room. Brundidge led all scorers with 12 points in the opening stanza.

Detroit finished shooting 40 percent (20-49) overall and 76 percent (22-29) from the charity stripe, while holding UIC to just 36 percent (17-47) overall, including 18 percent (4-22) in the second half. The Flames won the battle on the boards 34-32, but turned the ball over 15 times, including 10 times in the second half. 

Detroit will conclude its three game road trip with its fourth-straight Friday night game on ESPNU when the Titans visit Wright State on Friday, Feb. 21. Tip-off is scheduled for 10 p.m. (ET) at the Nutter Center and will televised nationally on ESPNU with Jim Barbar and Malcolm Huckaby making the call.