MILWAUKEE - Being home again was good to the Milwaukee men's basketball team.
 
The Panthers, playing their first home game in three weeks, used a pair of large first-half scoring runs to race to their biggest halftime lead of the season in cruising to an 88-54 victory over Cleveland State University Saturday afternoon at UWM Panther Arena.
 
"We have obviously been going through some adversity," Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter said. "Coming off a long road swing and we finally get a chance to get back home and play well in our arena for the first time this year where we came out from the beginning to the end and played solid basketball."
 
Milwaukee (17-11, 8-7 Horizon League) also held the Vikings (8-20, 3-12 Horizon League) to just 18 points in the first half. It led by as many as 39 points in the second half, allowing reserves to see more than 15 minutes of playing time down the stretch.
 
"And it's really good to see all of these guys that put a lot of time into practice and the weight room, all of the things that we do and then sit on the bench and cheer for the guys that are getting the bulk of the minutes," Jeter said. "So it's good to see those guys finally get on the floor and play."
 
Matt Tiby led the way with 16 points, adding seven rebounds and three assists in just 20 minutes of playing time. Cody Wichmann drilled four three-pointers for 12 points in his 15 minutes of time on the court and Brock Stull went for 11 points, five rebounds and three assists off the bench.
 
No starter played more than 23 minutes. Milwaukee held a 52-18 advantage at the intermission and grew the lead to almost 40 at 63-24 with 14:38 remaining.
 
Brett Prahl established a new career-high with nine points, finishing 3-of-3 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the line in addition to grabbing three rebounds. Derek Rongstad chipped in a career-best six points and added four boards. All 14 players that dressed for the game saw at least five minutes of playing time, with 10 seeing 11 minutes or more.
 
UWM shot 44.4 percent (24-of-54) from the floor and hit 11 three's. It also won the rebounding battle at 38-to-31. The team had just one turnover in the first half, finishing the day at seven.
 
The 34-point margin of victory was the team's biggest against an NCAA Division I opponent since November of 2011.
 
Rob Edwards led the Vikings with 18 points. Demonte Flannigan had a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards.
 
Milwaukee got out of the chutes quickly, using a 16-2 run to extend its lead to 27-11 on a layup by Jordan Johnson midway through the period. The Panthers then ended any question on who was going to claim victory, scoring 15 points in a row – including a pair of Wichmann 3's – to make it 44-16 with three minutes remaining.
 
The Panthers stay at home and welcome Youngstown State University, tipping off at 7 p.m. Monday evening.