Nov. 17, 2001

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Dylan Page scored a career-high 14 points and UWM used a second-half surge to claim a 77-63 win over Concordia-St. Paul Saturday night at the Klotsche Center.

Clay Tucker and James Wright added 13 points apiece for the Panthers, who won their first regular season game under new head coach Bruce Pearl.

Josh Delich scored 25 points to lead the Golden Bears (1-1).

The UWM lead was just 47-46 following a jumper by Brian Jamros with 12:52 remaining. The Panthers scored seven straight points - including a three-point shot by Page - to gain some control of the game. The Bears again closed to within four at the 9:53 mark, but UWM rattled off nine straight points to put the game away. Concordia never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

"I thought the opposition played very well tonight," Pearl said. "They handled our pressure very well. We almost beat ourselves tonight from three-point range."

UWM made just 4-of-22 three-point shots, including just 1-of-10 in the first half.

"Tonight we didn't shoot the ball real well," Tucker said. "But when the time came to make some plays, we dug deep and made them."

Dan Weisse and Jason Frederick each contributed nine points to a balanced UWM attack.

In the first half, UWM moved to a 12-point advantage midway through the first half, leading 20-8 following a Frederick jumper at the 10:40 mark. But the Golden Bears fought back, pulling to within 26-21 on a Delich three and to within 32-28 on a Dan Torrez three. The Panther lead was 36-31 at the half.

The win was Pearl's first as a Division I head coach, but all he was looking toward was the Western Michigan contest on the road Wednesday.

"I promise you that won't mean anything until the end of the year," Pearl said. "We'll see how many we can get at the end of the year and be judged by that."

UWM's game at Western Michigan Wednesday tips off at 7 p.m. CST. The Panthers next play at home Dec. 4 against Chicago State.