MILWAUKEE - Brock Stull scored 21 points and the Milwaukee men's basketball team was within a point midway through the second half, but could not overcome a key scoring spurt in falling to Oakland, 86-75, Sunday afternoon at the Klotsche Center.
 
The Panthers (8-23, 4-14 Horizon League) tied the game at the halftime horn and were down by just a point at 50-49 when the Golden Grizzlies (24-7, 14-4 Horizon League) went on a pivotal stretch. The visitors scored 11 points in a row to gain some separation. UWM battled but never got closer than six the rest of the way.
 
"I thought we fought back in the second half, we just had a segment there where they got a couple of easy ones and I thought that was a big momentum swing," Milwaukee head coach LaVall Jordan said. "Proud of our guys all season for the fight and the togetherness that we have played with."
 
Stull posted a solid afternoon, adding six rebounds and a career-high seven assists to his 21 points. Cody Wichmann netted 13 points, Cameron Harvey poured in 12 on four 3's and Brett Prahl was also in double-figures with a 10-point/7 rebound performance.
 
"We have learned a ton of lessons, so now we get to try and put it all together and move forward to Friday," Jordan said. "We have to rest – this was four games in nine days – so we have to rest and then we have to move on."
 
Sherron Dorsey-Walker went off for a career-high 28 points, sinking 8-of-11 of his three-point attempts. Martez Walker added 21 points and seven rebounds. Combined with Valparaiso's loss earlier in the afternoon, the Grizzlies claimed a share of the Horizon League regular-season title and the No. 1 seed with the victory.
 
Tied 39-all at intermission on a buzzer-3 by Harvey, the Panthers hung with Oakland for the majority of the second half, playing evenly outside of the key stretch that decided the outcome. The Grizzlies held a 61-49 advantage with 12:37 to play and seemed to hit a big 3 every time they needed one – finishing with 13 triples on the afternoon.
 
The Panthers trimmed the deficit to six at 63-57 on a pair of Stull free throws with just under 10 to go, but OU pushed it right back to 11 at 70-59.
 
Another late Milwaukee surge gave some hope, and it was a two-possession game at 78-71 on a Prahl putback with 1:41 to go. However, it was not enough as Oakland eventually prevailed by 11.
 
The Panthers shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) from the floor on the day, sinking nine 3's of their own. UWM did hit 18 free throws and was out-rebounded by a small margin at 34-30. Oakland finished at 51.8 percent (29-of-56) from the floor.
 
That brings a conclusion to the regular season and the postseason will get started later this week. As the No. 10 seed, Milwaukee will get play underway at Motor City Madness at 4:30 p.m. CST Friday, taking on Detroit Mercy. The full release and BRACKET from the Horizon League is available HERE.