Dec. 17, 2002

Box Score

MILWAUKEE - Ronnie Jones and Dylan Page scored 24 points apiece in leading the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to an 84-70 win over UW-Parkside Tuesday night at the Klotsche Center.

The Panthers (8-2) won for the seventh-straight time, their longest winning streak since the 1992-93 season.

Jose Winston added 11 points off the bench for UWM, which played its second-straight game with standout senior Clay Tucker and survived a three-point barage by the Division II Rangers (5-4), who made seven of their first eight three-point shots in building an early 10-point lead.

"Parkside was better than some of the Division I teams we have beaten," UWM head coach Bruce Pearl said. "They played with poise and courage. If I wasn't on the other side, I would have enjoyed it more."

The Rangers led 27-17 after a Gareth Malkowski three-point shot with 9:51 remaining in the first half. But the Panthers embarked on a 16-5 run over the next five minutes, finally claiming their first lead of the night on a Winston three with 4:43 remaining. Parkside countered with a layup by Dean Pogodzinski on its next possession, but Winston scored on a layup of his own to give UWM back a lead it would never relinquish.

UWM carried a 45-38 lead into the locker room and pushed it to 56-42 in the first 5:38 of the second half. Parkside closed back within nine at 56-47 with 12:43 remaining, but the Panthers outscored the Rangers, 21-10, over the next 10 minutes to build a 77-57 lead with 5:23 and were never threatened the rest of the way.

"We're tired. We've done a lot of traveling and it's finals week," Pearl said. "Fortunately, Dylan, Ronnie, Jose and Mark Pancratz really picked it up for us and allowed us to win the game."

Pancratz played a career-high 23 minutes, scoring five points, in the absence of Tucker.

After the early red-hot shooting by the Rangers, UWM's defense settled in. Parkside shot just 41.1 percent for the game, including just 30 percent in the second half. And, after making seven of their first eight threes, UWP made just 3-of-14 the rest of the way.

"They were just sharper than we were early on," Pearl said. "They were able to run their offense with ease. I don't think it was any adjustments as much as it was our bench. They really brought the defense and brought the energy. That was the difference in the game."

"I thought we had some guys in the right spots as far as attacking their pressure," Parkside head coach Jeff Rutter said. "As the game went on, we needed to do a better job of running our offense after breaking the press."

The Panthers return to action Saturday afternoon, hosting Loyola in the Horizon League opener for both teams. The game tips off at 4 p.m.