MILWAUKEE - Matt Tiby led three players in double-figures with 12 points and the Milwaukee men's basketball team used a strong second-half showing to defeat SIUE Thursday night, 64-51, at UWM Panther Arena.
 
"This game was played kind of exactly how I thought it would play out," Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter said. "SIUE has done a nice job in the first half of all their games except one. They have good players – their bigs inside are tough to handle and that's part of the reason why we had a lot of respect for that. I thought our guys did a nice job in both halves of sticking to our plan."
 
Playing just their second home game of the season, the Panthers (6-3) picked it up in the second half against the Cougars (1-6), shooting 56.5 percent after intermission to claim the victory.
 
"This was really the first time we had a chance to game plan and really put in some things to try and take away some of the strengths of another team," Jeter said. "And in that run in the second half it really showed up."
 
Tiby finished with those 12 points and added eight rebounds. Cody Wichmann had 10 and Jordan Johnson did a little bit of everything, stuffing the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds and a game-high seven assists.
 
J.J. Panoske chipped in with eight points, five boards, four assists and a pair of big blocks and Akeem Springs netted nine. Austin Arians also had eight points and five rebounds and Carlos Anderson led SIUE with 10 as the only player in double figures for the visitors.
 
It was a tale of two halves for the UWM offense, turning it up a notch in the second in pulling away from the Cougars.
 
"We have been talking about trying to get some stops and trying to get ourselves an opportunity," Jeter said. "When we have those lulls like we had in the first half, boy, I know it was ugly. But in the second half, shooting 56 percent and getting some key stops – long stretches where SIUE wasn't scoring – we did a nice job with that tonight."
 
A Johnson three and a ferocious dunk by J. R. Lyle got the crowd into it, giving Milwaukee its first double-digit lead of the night at 38-28 less than five minutes into the second half.
 
SIUE did not fold, fighting back and trimming the deficit to 41-37 at the 11:38 mark.
 
Milwaukee took the momentum right back. A 9-2 scoring spurt and a monster rejection by J.J. Panoske took the game to the under-eight media timeout at 50-39. A Wichmann triple from the corner and a dunk by Arians capped a 14-3 run and made it 55-40 with just over five minutes to play, taking all of the suspense out of the decision.
 
Foul trouble and ice-cold shooting limited the Panthers in the first half, yet the team held the 29-26 edge at intermission. Tiby, Arians and Springs all had two first-half fouls and the squad shot an ice-cold 29 percent (9-of-31) from the floor. A perfect 8-for-8 showing at the free throw lines helped the cause.
 
A three-pointer by Springs started a 7-0 spurt and Tiby put Milwaukee ahead, 22-19, on a pair of free throws at the 6:24 mark. UWM then held SIUE without a field goal for almost six minutes, with a Cougar basket ending the stretch and cutting the lead to four at 27-23 with just under two minutes left before half.
 
It's an off weekend followed by the trip to Madison next, heading to play Wisconsin at the Kohl Center Wednesday. Tip off time for the midweek state rivalry matchup is set for 8 p.m.