Ill.-Chicago 63, Wis.-Milwaukee 55

3/1/2008 9:40 PM

MILWAUKEE (AP) -Scott VanderMeer scored 17 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Illinois-Chicago to a 63-55 victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee in a Horizon League game Saturday night.

With the win Illinois-Chicago (16-14, 9-9) tied Milwaukee for fourth place in the conference. That earned Chicago the right to host a first-round game in the league tournament Tuesday night against Youngstown State.

Karl White Jr. had 14 points, all in the second half, to lead Illinois-Chicago's late surge. Josh Mayo added 12 points.

The Flames beat the Panthers for the third straight game and swept their first season series with Milwaukee since 1997-'98.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee (14-15, 9-9), which has lost four of its last five games, was led by Jason Averkamp with 11 points and Ricky Franklin with 10.

The Panthers played with only nine players because starting center Marcus Skinner was sidelined with a sprained right ankle. Franklin and Paige Paulsen both fouled out in the second half to leave the team even more short-handed.

Milwaukee will host Loyola on Tuesday in a first-round tournament game.

The Panthers battled back from a 33-25 deficit to take a 36-34 lead on three straight free throws in two trips to the foul line by Averkamp.

But White scored eight straight points to put the Flames ahead 42-36.

Mayo hit one of two free throws with 1:14 left to put Chicago ahead 52-47. Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter was assessed a technical foul for arguing a call.

In the hotly contested first half, Mayo hit two free throws with 2.3 seconds left to tie the game 24-24. It was the fifth tie in a back-and-forth period in which the score was tied five times and the lead changed hands eight times.