Jan. 12, 2014

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MILWAUKEE - Keifer Sykes scored 34 points and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay outscored the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 11-4 in overtime in claiming a 93-86 win at the U.S. Cellular Arena Sunday afternoon.

The highly-entertaining contest saw the Phoenix (13-3, 3-0 Horizon) lead by as many as 11 before the Panthers grabbed a nine-point second-half lead. But Green Bay forged overtime with a 10-3 run over the final three minutes of regulation and then took control in the extra session by stifling the Milwaukee offense.

Jordan Aaron led five Panthers (12-6, 2-2) in double-figures with 26 points, including a stretch of 13-straight points in the second half. Matt Tiby added 20 points and seven rebounds, while Kyle Kelm had a double-double of 11 points and 12 boards.

Alec Brown added 19 points for Green Bay, including a banked-in three-pointer with just over two minutes remaining that boosted the Phoenix comeback efforts.

Plus, Green Bay collected 23 offensive rebounds, leading to 22 second-chance points. Each of Green Bay's final two baskets in regulation came after offensive rebounds, as did three of its four baskets in overtime.

After leading nearly the entire second half, Milwaukee never led in the overtime session. The only basket in the first three minutes was a jumped by Greg Mays but four-straight points from Brown and a pair of free throws from Sykes helped Green Bay seize control.

"That was a great college basketball game," Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter said. "We've come a long way in 12 months. For these guys to put themselves in position to have a lot of success, it says a lot about the character of this group. Having said that, some of the inexperience does show. Careless turnovers here, a few missed box outs there, still show with this group. In games where we have opportunities to finish, we've seemed to let things kind of come back.

"But we didn't rattle in the first half when we were down 11. That tells you a lot about this group. This is a very tough group. We just have to clean up a few things."

The Panthers started fast but fell into an offensive rut as the first half wore on. Milwaukee led 15-9 after a Kelm basket five minutes in and then led 17-11 on a pair of Steve McWhorter free throws moments later. UWM went quiet from there, though, as Green Bay tied the game at 19 on a dunk by Kenneth Lowe and then took the lead at 25-24 on another Lowe basket.

That hoop triggered a 9-0 run for Green Bay that pushed the lead to 32-24 and the Phoenix eventually led 35-24 on a Lowe basket.

Milwaukee answered to get back in it before the break. A J.J. Panoske basket made it 35-30 and then an Arians three brought the Panthers to within two at 37-35. It was then 42-38 Green Bay at the break.

The Panthers continued their good play into the second half, scoring eight in a row out of the break to claim a 46-42 advantage and force a Green Bay timeout. The lead eventually hit 50-44 on a Kelm basket and grew to 63-54 on a layin by Aaron with 12:05 left.

Green Bay pushed back, closing to within 63-61 on a Sykes layin with 10:10 remaining. But Milwaukee answered once more, with back-to-back threes from Aaron pushing the lead back to 71-63 with 9:02 left.

Milwaukee's lead was still 79-72 with 3:30 to play following a Kelm hoop, but the Panthers could not close it out. Sykes had seven in the final three minutes while Brown banked in a key three-pointer. A three from Tiby marked Milwaukee's only points in the closing minutes, and Milwaukee was unable to get a shot off in the closing seconds of a tie game. After Brown missed a desperation jumper following a full-court pass with one second left, the game went to overtime knotted at 82.

UWM now hits the road for three-straight games, starting Thursday night at UIC. All three games of the upcoming road trip can be seen live on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.