(Saturday, December 1)

Final Score: Illinois-Chicago 50, Northwestern 44

Evanston, IL (Sports Network) - Josh Crittle scored 13 points and was a rebound shy of a double-double for the Illinois-Chicago Flames who topped the Northwestern Wildcats 50-44 at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Daniel Barnes scored 10 points for UIC (6-1) and was the only other player in double figures. The Flames have won five-straight games.

Drew Crawford scored a game-high 18 points and Reggie Hearn had 10 points and nine rebounds for Northwestern (6-2).

Northwestern held a slim 26-25 lead at the break after hitting on 8-of-19 shots from the field. UIC netted 8-of-28 field goal attempts and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line to keep pace.

UIC improved sightly by shooting 33.3 percent (9-of-27) in the second half while Northwestern connected on only 29.2 percent. The Flames broke open a 44-44 tie with a little more than two minutes remaining by netting 4-of-5 shots from the charity stripe down the stretch.

Despite being outrebounded 39-34, UIC outscored Northwestern 15-3 on second chance points.

12/01 17:03:28 ET