Dec. 30, 2004
Box Score
RIVERDALE, NY -
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee scored the first 10 points of overtime to take control of the game en route to an 88-78 win over Manhattan Thursday night in cozy Draddy Gymnasium just outside of New York City.
The runaway in the extra session was in stark contrast to the remainder of the game between two defending league champions. Manhattan led by 12 points midway through the first half but the Panthers recovered and held the lead for most of the final 10 minutes of regulation.
The game was finally decided by an offensive outburst from Ed McCants, who scored the first six points of the extra session and wound up scoring 12 of his 21 points in overtime.
McCants' late effort helped compliment the best offensive game of Boo Davis' UWM career, as the junior tossed in 22 points off the bench. Chris Hill added 17 points, Joah Tucker 11 and James Wright contributed nine points and nine rebounds for the Panthers, who snapped a three-game losing streak and avenged a home loss to the Jaspers (4-4) in last year's ESPN Bracket Buster event. The effort by UWM also included 16 offensive rebounds and a stellar 35-for-40 effort from the foul line, including 12-of-12 in the extra session.
"It takes that kind of stepped-up effort to beat a team like Manhattan on the road," UWM head coach Bruce Pearl said. "We have said that we play our best basketball when we get a lot of contributions. We know we have some weapons and it is just a matter of figuring out how to give all of them the freedom they need to work."
Peter Mulligan scored 24 points and CJ Anderson added 21 for the Jaspers, who have also lost to North Carolina State and Arizona during the early season.
The Panthers (7-3) appeared to have the game won in regulation on a Hill jumper that made it 65-64 with eight seconds remaining. But, officials whistled a foul as Jason Wingate attempted a wild 18-footer with 1.3 seconds remaining, giving the Jaspers new life. Wingate sunk the first but, after a UWM timeout, missed the second, sending the game to overtime.
What allowed the Panthers to be in position to win the game at the end of regulation was the play of Davis, moved to the bench prior to the Kansas gave in favor of Hill. But Davis scored 19 of his points in the second half alone and at one point scored 12 of UWM's 18 points during a run that moved them from six points down to four points ahead.
"He has the ability to take over a game and he did," Pearl said. "That gave our guys a lot of confidence on that end."
"I just wanted to settle down," Davis said. "I think I've been rushing it lately. My teammates told me to just let the game come to me."
And, then, once the perimeter defensive attention began to switch toward Davis, McCants stepped forward.
"Boo let them know they couldn't just key on me," McCants said. "I was happy he was scoring. It was definitely good to see Boo play well."
The Panthers hung in the game in the first half despite shooting just 25 percent from the field and seeing leading scorer Tucker sidelined with three fouls. A pair of Mulligan threes pushed Manhattan's lead to 25-13, but the Panthers recovered with six-straight to pull within 25-19. Manhattan then carried a 29-21 lead into the locker room. Wright led the Panthers with six points in the first half, while Mulligan scored 12 and Anderson 10 for Manhattan.
"Manhattan has jumped on everybody. They've started well, especially at home," Pearl said. "We knew we just had to hang in there. At halftime, we had played about as poorly as we could and we were just down eight points."
UWM came out strong in the second half, pulling into a 36-all tie on a McCants hoop with 12:47 remaining. The Jaspers again ran out to a six-point lead but a Davis three off the break gave the Panthers a 49-48 edge and eventually UWM led by as many as four down the stretch.
But, a pair of free throws by Mike Konovelchick on a loose ball rebounding foul with 54.6 seconds remaining gave the lead back to Manhattan and set the stage for what appeared to be heroics from Hill, whose jumper came from about 17-feet away on the right baseline. Instead, Wingate drove into traffic at the top of the key and earned a highly-controversial whistle, nearing keeping the Panthers from earning overtime.
UWM finally returns home Monday night, hosting Detroit in a 7 p.m. contest at the U.S. Cellular Arena.