Feb. 12, 2000

CHICAGO - The UW-Milwaukee men's basketball team suffered another heartbreaking loss on the road Saturday night, falling to the UIC Flames, 81-75, at the UIC Pavilion. The Panthers' record drops to 11-11 overall and 4-6 in the MCC, while the Flames stand at 9-17 overall and 4-7 in the MCC.

The Panthers turned in a solid first-half performance, shooting 45.7 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from the three-point range to go into the break leading the Flames, 44-26. But the older and more experienced Flames adjusted their game, holding the Panthers to just 31 points in the second half while they scored 55 points -- the most points any team has scored in one half against the Panthers this year.

"They shut down our perimeter (in the second half)," said UW-Milwaukee head coach Bo Ryan. "You didn't see them play the same zone in the second half. Rarely do we have guys with shooting percentages like tonight. If you add up our freshmen shooting percentages tonight, it's 13-for-46 -- and that's not going to win you anything."

The Flames, who shot just 35.7 percent from the field in the first half, were able improve their field goal shooting to 60.6 percent in the second half. On defense, the Flames out-rebounded the Panthers, 45-34, grabbing 26 boards alone in the second half.

"We were getting out-muscled and outdone on the glass," said Ryan. "The boards really hurt us tonight."

Freshman Clay Tucker (Lima, Ohio) led the Panthers with 23 points and 7 rebounds, followed by junior Chad Angeli (Wausau, Wis.) with 18 points and 7 rebounds, with senior Shaun Fountain adding 14 points. For UIC, Theandre Kimbrough turned in a career-high 27-point performance, scoring 19 points just in the second half.

UW-Milwaukee returns home next week for a trio of games, beginning Tuesday night when they take a break from conference action to take on the Chicago State Cougars. On Thursday, the Panthers face conference leader Butler, and on Saturday they wrap up their home season against Wright State. All games are