Jan. 3, 2008

Box Score |  Quotes

MILWAUKEE - Ricky Franklin scored a collegiate-best 24 points and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee hit a season-best 12 three-pointers in capturing a 75-64 win over Wright State Thursday night at the U.S. Cellular Arena.

The Panthers (6-7, 1-2 Horizon) have now won three-straight games for the first time since the 2005-06 season.

Paige Paulsen added 15 points and six rebounds while Deion James pitched-in with 12 points off the bench for Milwaukee.

Todd Brown scored 21 points and Vaughn Duggins added 19 for Wright State (8-4, 1-2), which had beaten nationally-ranked Butler in its last league contest but has not won in Milwaukee since 1998.

The Panthers wound up shooting only 43.1 percent overall for the game. But, Milwaukee scored 74 or more points for the third-straight outing and converted 19-of-25 from the foul line in the contest.

"Our plan was to take the best open look we could get knowing Wright State is a very disciplined team," UWM head coach Rob Jeter said. "You are going to get those types of shots against them but you are not going to get much of anything else because they do a pretty good job of playing position defense and they help each other. We knew we were going to have to make some shots, but at the same time we didn't want to forget about being aggressive going toward the rim."

Milwaukee led by as many as 11 points in the first half before falling behind 41-40 with 16:08 to play. The Panthers then controlled the game from there, rebuilding a nine-point lead at 52-43 on a tip-in by Paulsen with 12:26 remaining before eventually leading by as many as 12.

Wright State did pull within six points in the final two minutes but three free throws by James in addition to a pair of free throws by Allan Hanson wrapped things up for the Panthers.

"I thought their kids played exceptionally well tonight," Wright State coach Brad Brownell said of the Panthers. "They made a lot of shots which sometimes they have been a little sketchy at. Ricky Franklin had a tremendous game. Their other kids competed hard. They just outplayed us tonight."

The Panthers rode their strong three-point shooting to a solid first half. Milwaukee wound up hitting 9-of-16 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes, with Franklin knocking in three from long range.

The strong shooting helped the Panthers overcome a 19-12 deficit they faced at the midway point. In fact, UWM scored 10-straight points, sparked by a three from Anthony Hill, to claim a 22-19 edge. Then, after WSU closed back to within a point, threes from Charlie Swiggett and Paige Paulsen pushed the lead to 27-21. Eventually, Franklin hit back-to-back threes to give UWM a 34-23 lead, and the Raiders could only slightly cut into the lead before the break.

UWM returns to action Saturday night, hosting Detroit in a 7 p.m. contest.