Feb. 27, 2003

Box Score

FAIRBORN, Ohio - Clay Tucker scored a career-high 40 points in becoming the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's all-time leading scorer as UWM claimed an impressive 98-65 win over Wright State Thursday night at the Nutter Center.

Tucker scored 26 of his points in the second half and seemed to score at will against the Raiders. He converted on 15-of-25 from the field, including five three-point baskets. He now has 1,705 career points, besting Panther great Larry Reed, who scored 1,693 points while at UWM.

The Panthers (22-6, 13-2 Horizon) were never seriously threatened in the contest, building a 28-point first-half lead while leading by as many as 34 points in the game.

Dylan Page added 17 points and nine rebounds while Nate Mielke had 12 points and 11 rebounds to spark the Panthers.

The win keeps the Panthers tied for first place in the Horizon League entering Saturday's showdown with co-leader Butler. The Bulldogs claimed a 58-37 win over UW-Green Bay Thursday night.

UWM also won for the ninth time in 10 games and claimed their eighth road win of the season.

But the story of the night was Tucker, playing for the final time as a collegian in his home state of Ohio. During one stretch of the second half, the Lima, Ohio-native scored 19 of UWM's 20 points.

"It was something special," Tucker said. "I felt like last Saturday at Southern Illinois (a 66-64 loss) I let people down by not being aggressive. It was my job tonight to be aggressive and take the ball to the basket."

"Clay has done this a couple of times," UWM head coach Bruce Pearl said. "Clay is capable of doing that, but he's a very unselfish player. We need him to take the ball to the basket like that for us to be champions."

Tucker's 40 points are the most by a Panther since Von McDade scored 42 against Wright State at the tail end of the 1990-91 season.

The Panthers controlled the game from the outset, building a 9-2 lead in the first 3 1/2 minutes before never letting the Raiders (9-17, 3-12) back in the game. The lead hit 10 at 17-7 on a Tucker three with 13:02 remaining and the Panthers doubled-up on the Raiders at 26-13 on a Justin Lettenberger free throw with 7:59 remaining.

That's when UWM really heated up. They outscored Wright State 24-11 over the final eight minutes of the half, with the advantage reaching 41-20 on a Page layin with 2:12 remaining and the first-half lead peaking at 48-20 on a Jose Winston layup following a steal with 1:29 left.

"They are hitting on all cylinders and they are the best team in the league right now," Wright State head coach Ed Schilling said. "They certainly showed it tonight."

Vernard Hollins scored 25 points and Seth Doliboa added 16 for the Raiders, who were outrebounded 48-23 and shot just 38.2 percent for the game.

UWM's defense limited Wright State to just 26.7 percent shooting in the first half, while Hollins scored 14 of Wright State's 24 first-half points. The Panthers outrebounded the Raiders, 26-13, in the first 20 minutes while three Panther players reached double figures by the end of the first half.

UWM never really let up in the second half. After the Raiders pulled within 21 early in the second half, the Panthers poured it on. The lead rose above 30 for the first time when Tucker hit two free throws with 12:39 remaining, making it 70-39. As Pearl cleared the bench in the closing minutes, reserve Fernando Johnson scored on a turnaround basket with under a minute remaining to give the Panthers a 98-64 advantage.

"We played well, especially coming off of a loss," Pearl said. "Wright State deserved our full attention. Now we can talk about Butler."

Saturday's contest at Butler begins at 1 p.m. CST and will be televised in Milwaukee on CBS-58. With a win, the Panthers would claim the outright Horizon League title and the top seed for next week's Horizon League Championship at the U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee. A league title would be the first-ever in men's basketball for UWM.