Illinois-Chicago needed a monumental comeback to shock Wright State in UIC Pavilion after a fantastic performance by Jay Harris, winning 60-57 via a 19 point turnaround. Down 39-20 at the half, the Flames chipped away slowly but steadily, as leading scorer Jay Harris, who had 23 points in the affair, drilled a 3-pointer with 1:13 left, giving UIC the lead that they would hold until the final buzzer.
Along with the super-human effort by Harris, Ahman Fells contributed 11 points for the Flames, and hit a key 3-pointer right before Harris' to tie the game. PG Markese McGuire had a poor shooting effort of 2-7, but got to the foul line and converted, ending up with 10 points.
Wright State had 14.5% better shooting than UIC, mainly due to their efforts in the paint. New Zealander Michael Karena had 10 points down low, as did Justin Mitchell, who also grabbed 11 rebounds in his double-double effort. The leading scorer for WSU was Joe Thomasson, going 5-9 for 12 points. Thomasson has been the team's leading scorer every since star junior forward JT Yoho went down with an injury midway through the season, sending the Raiders into the tailspin they have been in for all of conference play.
However, as has been the story all season for the Raiders, their defense imploded in the 2nd half, allowing 40 points after the break. Howard Moore's bunch never showed any quit, and they will now go to the next round, tussling with the Oakland Golden Grizzlies on Friday.