Dec. 5, 2011

Box Score

ROSEMONT, Ill. - Kaylon Williams had 21 points and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee led by double figures much of the night en route to an 87-76 win over DePaul Monday night at Allstate Arena.

Milwaukee (8-1) actually built a 22-point lead in the first half and then withstood a handful of Blue Demon rallies in equaling their best start since the 1992-93 season.

Tony Meier added 20 points and Paris Gulley 19 as the two combined to go a perfect 10-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc.

UWM shot an Allstate Arena record 61.7 percent from the floor for the game, working its offense for wide open three-pointers and layups.

Cleveland Melvin had 27 points and Brandon Young 20 for DePaul (4-3), which made 50 percent of its shots but never recovered from the big early deficit.

The victory is Milwaukee's first over a Big East team since beating Boston College, then in the Big East, in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.

In the end, the game was decided in the first 20 minutes. Milwaukee had a double-figure lead in the first six minutes and led by 20 at the half. DePaul did close to within eight at one point in the second half but the Panthers again maintained a double-figure lead over the final 13 minutes of the game.

"Our guys played with poise and patience throughout the entire game. We had multiple guys do special things tonight," UWM head coach Rob Jeter said. "We knew it was going to be a game of runs and they were going to try to speed us up. If we could just stay patient like we did ... it was the common theme for the night, just staying patient and slowing down."

UWM's patience allowed the Panthers to score much of the night when handling DePaul's pressure.

"I was just spacing out, setting my feet, and my teammates were finding me," Gulley said. "We were looking up the court, and when we got it up the court we were finding each other and knocking down shots."

It was all Milwaukee in the first 20 minutes of the game. The Panthers set the tone quickly, with hoops from Gulley and Ryan Allen giving UWM an 18-7 lead just six minutes in. The advantage grew to 21-9 on a three by Meier and then Meier added three more from long range, with the final one in his personal run making it 35-13 with 9:26 left.

The Blue Demons settled in somewhat from there, scoring 10 in a row to pull within 35-23 with 5:47 left. But, Williams hit a three to stem the tide and then another three from Gulley pushed the edge back to 45-27 with just over a minute remaining. Williams then added a free throw in the closing seconds as Milwaukee carried a 48-28 lead into the locker room.

DePaul used an early run to close with 52-41 four minutes into the second half and eventually was within 55-47 with 13 minutes to play. But the Panthers again settled in, with a three from Gulley making it 67-52 with 10 minutes remaining and a dunk by Kyle Kelm keeping the advantage at 75-60 with 5:48 left. A Kelm layin with four minutes left pushed the lead to 79-63 with the Panthers were not threatened after that.

"When we sped up you saw what happened," Jeter said. "But we were able to come back with some timely baskets and some timely layups more importantly."

UWM heads back to the road this weekend, playing at Northern Iowa Saturday afternoon. The game tips off at 1 p.m.