Jan. 22, 2004

Box Score

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Dylan Page scored 20 points and Ed McCants added 18 as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee extended its best Horizon League start in school history with a 78-64 win over Cleveland State Thursday night.

The Panthers (12-5, 7-0 Horizon) have now won six-straight games and remain a game ahead of Wright State and UW-Green Bay in the league standings.

UWM put the game away with a 17-2 second-half run and led by as many as 25 points down the stretch before emptying the bench. All 15 players dressed for the game played on the heels of a battle Saturday at Detroit.

Jermaine Robinson led the Vikings (4-14, 0-7) with 21 points, but UWM limited Cleveland State to just 37.7 percent shooting from the field while forcing 20 turnovers. The Vikings have now lost 12-straight games.

"I thought our defense carried us," UWM head coach Bruce Pearl said. "As this team continues to mature, it seem to take care of business when business needs to be done.

"It will have been 19 days since we will have played Detroit and our focus now is on which team has gotten better in that time."

The decisive Panther run started after the Vikings pulled to within 47-41 on an Omari Westley jumper with 14:33 remaining in the game. A driving Chris Hill layup sparked the burst before an Adrian Tigert layin made it 51-41 with 12:58 left. A Page three pushed the advantage to 60-43 with 9:41 left and a pair of free throws by Page made it 64-43 with 8:39 remaining. UWM used its bench liberally from there, cruising to its third league road win of the year.

Tigert and Joah Tucker added 10 points apiece for the Panthers, who also got five rebounds and eight assists from point guard Kalombo Kadima.

UWM took advantage of a depleted Cleveland State roster, missing two players due to academic ineligibility and another to injury. First-year head coach Mike Garland has only eight healthy and eligible scholarship players on his roster, but Pearl was quick to complement his team's opponent.

"They were very prepared to start the game," Pearl said. "They made it very difficult for us to score. If not for fatigue and the fact that we were deeper, it would have been a close game the whole way."

The game also marked a battle between the Horizon League's top two scorers in Page and Robinson.

"It's in the back of your mind as a player, but you are much more interested in winning," Page said of winning the league scoring title. "I know I want to win and I'm sure Jermaine is disappointed that they did not win tonight."

The Panthers opened the contest sluggishly, falling behind 7-2 in the first seven minutes of the game. But UWM rallied to take an 11-9 advantage on a Page layin and would never give the lead back.

UWM's first-half edge hit 23-17 on a Tigert three with 6:52 remaining, but the Vikings rallied to within 25-24 on two Robinson free throws with 4:25 left. UWM then closed the half strong, leading by as many as 12 points in the late going and carrying a 10-point lead into the locker room.