Nov. 24, 2000

MIAMI - There will be no need for a recount in this Florida contest.

The UWM men's basketball team overcame sluggish early-game shooting to gradually pull away from Florida Atlantic, 78-60, Friday afternoon at the Golden Panther Thanksgiving Shootout.

Clay Tucker scored 26 points to lead the Panthers (2-1), while Chad Angeli added 13 and Kalombo Kadima scored 10.

UWM used a 12-0 first half run to build a 37-24 halftime advantage, then pushed their lead to 20 at 50-30 with 15:45 to play. The Owls (0-3) closed to within 13 at 56-43, but UWM used a 14-2 run to build a 70-45 lead with under five minutes to play, putting the game away. The run was highlighted by an alley-oop pass off the backboard from Tucker to a flying James Wright, who slammed the ball home.

But in the end, especially with the slow start offensively, the Panthers did the most damage on the defensive end, forcing 16 Owl turnovers and limiting Florida Atlantic to 43 percent shooting.

"You just look at the consistency with which we played defensively," coach Bo Ryan said. "They hit some shots at the end, but the game was out of reach."

The Panthers trailed 9-5 early, then pulled even at 11-11 despite 5-for-20 shooting from the field, and 0-for-6 shooting from the three-point line.

"Our outside shooting was not very good," Ryan said. "They were helping on anybody in the post, so on our kickouts we were getting some pretty good looks. We just didn't put them down."

UWM again handled the ball well, recording 20 assists while committing just nine turnovers.

The Panthers' swing through Florida continues Saturday afternoon, when UWM will face Canisius on day two of the Florida International Thanksgiving Shootout. Tipoff is 1 p.m. central time, and the game can be heard on AM 1340 WJYI, as well as on uwmpanthers.com.

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