CHICAGO (1/14/15) – Jarod Williams made two free throws with 2.8 seconds remaining to give the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team a 69-68 with over the University of Illinois at Chicago Wednesday night at the UIC Pavilion. The win is the third-straight for Detroit, which improves to 3-1 in the Horizon League.
 
Detroit (9-9, 3-1 HL) trailed by as much as 13 in the second half and was just 9-of-21 from the charity stripe before Williams made two to complete the comeback.
 
UIC (5-14, 1-3 HL) led 59-52 with six minutes left in regulation, before the Titans were able to tie the score at 63 with 2:50 remaining. Jay Harris then made a 3-pointer to put the Flames back in front 66-63 with 1:44 left. Horizon League Freshman of the Week Paris Bass split a pair of free throws to make score 66-64 with 1:08 remaining, before the Flames made two from the charity stripe to go up four 68-64 with 51 seconds left.
 
Senior forward Juwan Howard Jr. also split a pair of free throws on the Detroit's next possession to make the score 68-65 with 41 ticks left. UIC then held the ball for 33 seconds - as Detroit chose not to foul - before Chris Jenkins intercepted a pass and dunked at the other end to make the score 68-67 with 3.7 left on the clock. The Flames then tired to throw a deep pass to run out the clock, but Williams read the pass and was fouled while catching the ball to put him at the free throw line with 2.8 left.
 
Bass finished with a career-high 19 points to lead Detroit, while Howard scored 14 and Jenkins added 13. Bass also recorded a team-high six rebounds and two blocked shots, while Williams finished with six points and a team-high four assists.

Detroit opened the game with a 10-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Bass, before the Flames responded with a 16-5 run to take their first lead of the game with 11:28 left. The Titans answered back with a 6-3 run - including a three-point play from Brandan Kearney - to regain the lead, before UIC closed the half with a 21-12 run to take a 40-33 lead into the locker room. Bass led Detroit with nine points in the first half, while Howard had six. 

The Flames continued to add to their lead to start the second half as an 8-2 run gave them their largest lead of the game 48-35 with 16:47 remaining. The Titans started to inch back with a 9-3 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Jenkins to trim the lead to seven 51-44 with 13:41 left. The Flames would then hold an eight-point lead for the next five minutes, until a 6-0 run from Bass cut the lead to 54-52 with 6:35 remaining. UIC used a 5-0 run to go back up by seven 59-52, before the Titans closed the game with a 17-9 run, including Williams' two free throws to complete the comeback.
 
Harris led the Flames with a game-high 22 points – 15 in the second half – while Jake Wiegand added 14 on 7-of-9 shooting.
 
UIC shot 61 percent in the first half, but was held to just 28 percent in the second stanza making just 6-of-21 from the field. Overall the Flames shot 45.5 percent (20-of-44), while Detroit connected on 44.3 percent (27-of-61) of its shots. Detroit won the battle on the boards 35-34 and dished out 17 assists, while only committing eight turnovers. But UIC made 22-of-26 from the free throw line, while the Titans only made 11-of-23 attempts.
 
Detroit will host Horizon League foe Green Bay on Saturday, Jan. 17 for Homecoming. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET at historic Calihan Hall and will be televised locally on WADL-38 and nationally on ESPN3. The game can also be heard on AM 1270 with the voice of the Titans Dan Leach.