Feb. 18, 2006

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes

MILWAUKEE - Blake Ahearn scored 18 points and Nathan Bilyeu added 16 as Missouri State University claimed a 72-63 win over a depleted University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee squad Saturday afternoon at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

Playing without senior starter Adrian Tigert and junior reserve Kevin Massiah, the Panthers (18-8) did land five players in double figures but could not overcome 22 turnovers and 33.9 percent shooting from the field.

Joah Tucker led Milwaukee's balanced attack with 12 points, while Chris Hill added 11 and three other players added 10. But, Missouri State (18-7) would never let the Panthers completely overcome an 11-point deficit they faced with 11 minutes to play in the game. UWM did rally within three points with 1:04 remaining but would never get any closer.

Tigert, who was injured in last Saturday's game at Cleveland State and was severely limited in his 17 minutes of action Wednesday against UIC, saw his streak of 88-consecutive starts snapped. It also left the Panthers without a key cog in their attack.

"That's just too good of a basketball team to have the turnovers that we had, being short-handed the way we are, to win a basketball game," Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter said. "They were big. They were good. We just needed to take care of our opportunities. We let too many of them slip away, and that's just not going to get it done against that team.

"We have not been turning the basketball over like that, and then we had a few games here where it's just been difficult on us. We've had different combinations out there, asking different people to make decisions. At this time of the season we need to be better at that, and it's tough on this group."

Both teams played stellar defense in the first half, with both sides shooting under 35 percent. Meanwhile, the Panthers had to fight through foul trouble, as Tucker and Hill each played less than 10 minutes after picking up two fouls.

Still, Milwaukee never let Missouri State get out of touch in the first half. After the Bears built an 11-6 advantage, the Panthers rattled off five-straight to tie the game at 11. The Bears quickly rebuilt their lead to five and eventually led by seven at 21-14 with 7:59 remaining.

Missouri State's lead did grew to as many as eight, but the Panthers continued to hang in, pulling within five at 28-23 on a pair of free throws by McCoy with 3:45 left. Neither team did much of note from there, and Missouri State entered halftime with a 34-28 lead.

The Bears then started quickly in the second half, jumping to an 11-point advantage in the first 90 seconds. The Panthers rallied to pull within four at 40-36 before MSU's lead grew back to 52-41 with 11:02 left.

From there, the Panthers made it a game, first cutting the lead back to four at 56-52 on a layup by Boo Davis with 6:26 left. The lead was trimmed to 63-60 with 1:04 remaining on a McCoy tip-in, but five-straight free throws by the Bears made it 68-60 with just 23 seconds left and helped MSU secure its 18th win of the season.

UWM returns to action Tuesday night, hosting Detroit in the Panthers' final regular season game of the year. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CST and the game will mark Senior Night for Milwaukee's seven seniors.