Nov. 20, 2007

Box Score |  Quotes |  Notes

MILWAUKEE - Paige Paulsen scored 27 points and Torre Johnson added 22 as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee claimed an 89-80 win over South Dakota State Tuesday night at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

The Panthers (3-1) outscored the Jackrabbits 55-36 in the second half after struggling during the first 20 minutes.

UWM overcame 22-of-41 shooting from the free throw line and 38.7 percent shooting in the first half to claim the win. In fact, the Panthers trailed 44-34 at halftime before rallying for the victory.

Ben Beran scored 21 points and Garrett Callahan added 19 for the Jackrabbits (1-2), who shot 59.3 percent in the first half but then hit on just 41.7 percent of their shots in the second half.

The Panthers also got a big boost from their on-ball pressure, collecting 17 steals while forcing a total of 22 turnovers.

But, Milwaukee's slow first half was reminiscent of last week's game with Ball State, where the Panthers fell behind by 17 points before rallying to win in overtime. Head coach Rob Jeter's postgame message was succinct.

"Until we can play 40 minutes, we're not a very good basketball team," Jeter said.

Johnson said the Panthers responded to Jeter's halftime advice.

"It was just a wake-up call for everybody to stop moping around, stop begging and pleading, and to come out and play with some toughness and heart like you want to play and basically stop your man from scoring," Johnson said. "He had a few things to get off his chest to motivate the team and hopefully get some toughness out of everybody and get us to play better defense together."

The Panthers responded to Jeter's words by getting back in the game quickly. The Panthers scored 10-straight points in the first two minutes and 50 seconds and then took the lead for good at 50-48 on a Johnson jumper with 14:33 remaining. The advantage grew to double-digits for the first time at 62-52 on a pair of free throws by Johnson with just over 10 minutes to play and UWM then led by as many as 12 points before hanging on down the stretch.

"We're down at half and that should never be the case," Paulsen said. "We should never come out and play the way we did. But, you have to play with what you've got, so we had to come out and get it back right away. We had to play tough just like we did."

The Jacks shot 59.3 percent in the first 20 minutes, pulling out to a 10-point lead at the break. SDSU had the better of the play after the opening three minutes, which saw UWM jump out to a 9-5 lead. The Jacks scored the next eight points and the Panthers then led just once the rest of the half. In fact, SDSU scored six-straight to turn a 17-16 deficit into a 22-17 lead. Then, after the Panthers tied the game at 32, the Jacks scored 12 of the final 14 points of the half to carry a 44-34 into the locker room.

But, UWM's early second-half surge put it back in good position to claim its third win in the first four games of the season.

UWM returns to action Saturday night, hosting Drake in a 7 p.m. contest at the U.S. Cellular Arena.