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Penguins burned by Flames despite Morse’s 40 points

By John Vargo 4 min read

YOUNGSTOWN -- Cameron Morse saw all zeros hit the scoreboard at the end of the overtime.

He looked dejected as he exited the Beeghly Center floor.

You wouldn't think that would be the reaction of someone who had just scored 40 points and reached that plateau for the second time this season and the third time in his career.

However, it was. 92-89, UIC.

Morse, a 6-foot-2 Youngstown State junior guard, had 40 points on 15-of-35 from the floor and was 6-of-12 from 3.

"It feels pretty good, but, like, we lost," said Morse, whose team has lost two straight and four of the last five. "It really means nothing now. Getting 40 and winning, there's nothing better than that. It's a hard-fought loss losing by three. We did some good things. We did some bad things.

"We've got to find a way to win."

Morse made two 3s in the last 30 seconds which were off-balance, but somehow drained through.

"Even a couple of those 3s he made late, we challenged them," UIC coach Steve McClain said. "They were probably 28, 29 feet. One seemed like he got across half court and he made it."

The Flames (10-8, 3-2 Horizon League) went on a 7-0 run with the game tied at 80 in overtime to pull away.

UIC had a couple of 3-pointers by Kyle Guice in the second half, one with 2:05 left, giving the Flames a 76-71 lead. Guice had 12 points, but UIC was led by Dominique Matthews' 21 points. K.J Santos and Marcus Ottey each had 14, while Tarkus Feguson put in 15.

"We got up in the position with Tai (Odiase) fouling and my other big kid got hurt," McClain said of Guice. "We usually don't play Kyle inside, but we had to. Then we said he's not an inside guy, so we're going to pass, cut and move. It almost worked to our benefit because our guards found him when they drove. They kicked to him wide open."

However, YSU rallied with Brett Frantz's jumper with 28 seconds remaining drawing the Penguins even at 76. UIC turned over a potential game winning driving layup with a second remaining.

YSU's other starters were held to a combined 20 points with Matt Donlan not scoring. Francisco Santiago had eight. Both are double figure scorers for YSU.

"Donlan, you've got to respect him," McClain said. "We did a good job on him. I thought we did a good job on Santiago. He's a good a point guard and finds open people."

UIC's bench outscored YSU's 51 to 29, but those 29 came from Braun Hartfield's 19 and Devin Haygood's 10. Each had seven rebounds. UIC edged the Penguins in the rebounding battle, 49 to 47.

"Braun's really playing well," YSU coach Jerry Slocum said. "Really kind of pushing the envelope to be a starter. He's really played well.

"I'd like to have played (Jorden) Kaufman more. I think Jorden gave us a really nice ball game. When they went small, it was really hard for us to play in that situation. As long as their bigs were on the floor, we felt we could play with him. When they put five perimeter guys out there, I felt we had to make that adjustment."

"I feel those two brought a real impact to the game," Morse said.

UIC's Clint Robinson went down with an injury early in the second half, carried off the floor. McClain didn't say the nature of the setback, but said he'd be evaluated when the team returns to Chicago.

McClain said it was a physical game between the two teams.

"The trainer felt like he couldn't come back in," he said. "We were down to about one sub. It was a very physical game. It was a clean game. I thought they were playing hard and going at it."

As for Morse, he's focused on Monday's game at Detroit, starting at 7 p.m. He watched the Titans upend Oakland on Friday, but knows his team will be ready to go.

"Since we lost, I'm looking at Detroit now," he said. "I'm looking at scouting reports, looking at old film of them. This game is over and we're going to meet up with them (UIC) again."

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