Jan. 2, 2006

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes

MILWAUKEE - Boo Davis scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee claimed a hard-fought 75-68 win over Cleveland State Monday night at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

Joah Tucker and Adrian Tigert added 14 points and Chris Hill pitched-in with 12 as the Panthers (9-3, 2-0 Horizon) won despite shooting just 32.8 percent from the field.

Carlos English scored 23 points to lead Cleveland State (4-7, 0-2), which hasn't won in Milwaukee since 2000.

The Vikings were called for 32 fouls in the game, sending the Panthers to line 45 times and giving them a 31-5 edge in points from the line.

The game looked a lot like games the Panthers have played coming into the New Year each of the last two seasons. UWM's last home loss came a year ago tomorrow, when Detroit claimed a win at the U.S. Cellular Arena. Two years ago, the Titans jumped to a 13-0 lead on the Panthers before Milwaukee recovered to win.

This time, though, despite a sluggish outing that included 23 turnovers, the Panthers pulled out their fifth-straight win.

"Cleveland State played a good game. They played very physical, were tough and forced a lot of turnovers," Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter said. "We're very fortunate to get the win tonight."

Trailing by one point at halftime, the Panthers came out aggressively in the second half, pushing the ball toward the basket and into the post. UWM shot 34 free throws in the final 20 minutes while leading by as many as 16 points.

"That's their style," Jeter said of the physical play of the Vikings. "Our style is to be aggressive but to not send teams to the line. We had a lot of to with shooting those free throws, too. We continued to attack and continued to throw the ball in the low post."

Cleveland State held its one-point halftime lead after a very sloppy first 20 minutes. In fact, Panthers shot just 28.6 percent in the first half while committing nine turnovers. UWM still looked like it might build a lead in the early going, though, going ahead 10-6 on a layin by Tucker.

But, the Vikings continued to take advantage of the poor shooting by the Panthers, going up 21-18 on back-to-back jumpers by English. A Davis three tied the game and the teams then traded the lead from there. A jumper by Davis with 43 seconds left gave Milwaukee a 28-27 advantage, but a jumper by Victor Morris with 19 seconds remaining gave CSU a 29-28 lead at the break.

The Panthers surged ahead early in the second half, going up nine at 40-31 on a pair of free throws by Mark Pancratz with 15:40 left. The advantage grew to 12 at 48-36 on a tip-in by Tigert and eventually hit 16 at 66-50 on a free throw by Avery Smith with 5:22 left.

From there, the Panthers survived a barrage a three-point shots from the Vikings and an aggressive full-court defense by CSU that resulted in either a turnover by or free throws for the Panthers.

UWM continues its busy week of league action Thursday night, making the trip to Chicago for a battle with UIC. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. CST.