MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee men's basketball team looked poised to make it two victories in a row, but could not close out Wright State University in falling, 70-67, Saturday afternoon at the UWM Panther Arena.
 
"Give Wright State a ton of credit for just toughing it out," Milwaukee head coach LaVall Jordan said. "I thought we did a fairly good job in the first half of containing them. Too many turnovers. If there was one thing to point to – one thing we have been doing fairly well – is taking care of the basketball and giving ourselves a chance. But 16 turnovers is not a formula for success for our team."
 
The Panthers (5-13, 1-4 Horizon League) led the Raiders (12-7, 3-3 Horizon League) from the opening tip in eventually building a second-half lead of as many as 11 points, at 47-36, with 14 minutes to play.
 
Brock Stull led the Panthers with 16 points, chipping in four rebounds and four assists. Cody Wichmann and Brett Prahl each added 12 points; Wichmann also added four assists.

"I thought we had a great start to the game, especially offensively, we were in a good flow," Jordan said. "We got stagnant for a while there in the end of the first half and then more of a rhythm, inside especially, in the second half."
 
With the Panthers up 11, Mark Alstork started the WSU charge. His jumper at the 13:46 mark started a run of 11 points in a row by the visitors to force a tie at 47-47 at the 9:05 mark. Closely contested throughout, the lead would then never be more than two points for either team until the final seconds.
 
"Alstork got going in the second half," Jordan said. "He's a good player and been in a bit of a slump. You knew at some point he was going to get rolling, you just don't want it to be against you."
 
Alstork scored all 17 of his points in the second half, rounding out his statline with seven assists, five rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks. Teammate Justin Mitchell played a key role, finishing with a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds, including a key board in the final minute.
 
After falling behind for the first time all day, UWM turned the tide momentarily to lead 56-55 on a big three from August Haas at the 4:31 mark. The game was tied again at 58 on a Wichmann reverse layup, 60 on a pair of free throws by Jeremiah Bell and again at 62-all on two free throws from Prahl.
 
It was Prahl again with 1:46 to go, staking Milwaukee to a 64-62 advantage. Tied again, Stull hit a jumper in the lane to put the Panthers up a bucket at 66-64.
 
Alstork then made the biggest basket of the game, a three-pointer from the wing that swapped the lead again at 67-66. UWM was not able to convert and, following a pair of WSU free throws with 7.4 seconds left, the Raiders chose to foul up three points. Just 3.9 seconds remained on the clock. Bell made the first and had to try and miss the second to give UWM a chance. Alstork came up with the important rebound, made 1-of-2 tosses from the charity stripe with 0.6 remaining and UWM's final full-court heave came after the buzzer.
 
It was a strange first half, with teams going from red-hot to ice-cold within the snap of a finger. The first 10 minutes was a mad dash, with each team making over 70 percent of its shots (10-of-14 for both), to see the Panthers holding a 25-23 lead at the 9:29 mark on a jumper by Stull.
 
And just like that, neither team could score. The squads combined for just five makes on their final 30 combined field goal attempts (16.7%), with the Panthers going scoreless for a span of seven-plus minutes, yet playing solid enough defense to still hold a 31-28 advantage as the teams went to the locker rooms.
 
UWM made first seven field goals of the day to grab the 16-8 lead. The Panthers couldn't keep the Raiders at bay, with six made field goals by the opponents forcing a tie at 23-all.
 
Milwaukee shot 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from the floor for the day, but finished with an uncharacteristic 16 turnovers. WSU finished at 46.4 percent (26-of-56), with UWM taking a 33-31 edge on the boards.
 
Up next, Milwaukee takes a quick break from home games with the short drive down to Chicago Tuesday, taking on UIC Jan. 17. Tip-time is set for 7 p.m.