MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee men's basketball team turned the contest around, cutting a 22-point deficit down to a two-possession game at the start of the second half before running out of gas, falling to Green Bay by a final score of 80-56 Saturday afternoon at UWM Panther Arena.
 
Cody Wichmann led the way on "Senior Day", scoring a team-high 13 points. He was honored pregame along with Dan Studer, Cameron Harvey and senior manager Brett Richgels.
 
"I would like to start by thanking our senior class," Milwaukee head coach LaVall Jordan said. "Cameron Harvey, Dan Studer, Cody Wichmann, Brett Richgels our senior manager … just for their contributions – especially this year – throughout the course of the years they have been here. We appreciate the everyday effort."
 
Jeremy Johnson had nine points and six rebounds and Brock Stull finished with nine points. Bryce Nze grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and scored seven points.
 
The Panthers (8-20, 4-11 Horizon League) made 10 straight field goals against the Phoenix (16-11, 10-5 Horizon League) to highlight a 22-6 run, getting within six points at 41-35 at the 17:49 mark of the second half on a pair of 3's by Johnson.
 
From there, Milwaukee went ice-cold from the floor, staying in the game for an extended period despite scoring only from the free throw line.
 
"Thankfully we don't have to end on this note," Jordan said. "We still have two games at home and we still have a postseason opportunity in front of us too. That wasn't the way we wanted that one to work out. So now we have to re-shift our focus and continue to get better."
 
The Phoenix were led by Warren Jones and Khalil Small, each finishing with 14 points. Kenneth Lowe and Charles Cooper netted 10 apiece.
 
The Phoenix stretched out the lead to 13, but it was back to under 10 once again at 48-39 on a pair of free throws from Harvey. However, a span of nearly 10 minutes without a made field goal sealed UWM's fate.
 
Green Bay did enough from there, holding Milwaukee to 25.9 percent shooting from the floor in the second half before pulling away late.
 
The Panthers struggled for most of the first half, sitting with just 13 points on the scoreboard with under four minutes remaining in the period, shooting under 20 percent for the day at the time and trailing 35-13.
 
They finally gave the crowd something to cheer about, making each of their final seven field goals of the period to key what turned out to be a 14-2 run that trimmed the deficit to 10 at 37-27 on Jeremiah Bell's 3-pointer just in front of the horn.
 
Milwaukee finished the day at 32.1 percent (18-of-56) from the field. Green Bay made half of its 60 attempts from the floor and won the rebounding battle, 39-32. The Phoenix also had an impressive 52-18 advantage in points in the paint and 19-8 on points off turnovers.
 
Up next, the Panthers hit the road for one final contest before the postseason gets underway, traveling to Valparaiso Tuesday. Game time against the Crusaders is set for 7 p.m.