AMES, Iowa – A turnover-filled start to the night hurt the chances for the Milwaukee men's basketball team, falling to Iowa State by a final score of 68-53 in front of a crowd of 11,785 at the Hilton Coliseum Sunday evening.
 
The Panthers (2-2) dug themselves a hole with the early mistakes and the Cyclones (3-0) put it away with a strong start to the second half that created separation that, despite a late surge, Milwaukee could not overcome.
 
"We had talked about their defensive intensity, the crowd, all of that … but it was different for our guys when we got there," head coach Bart Lundy said. "We couldn't complete a pass, couldn't complete a hand-off, couldn't run anything until we settled in and that hole really set the tone for the game. Credit to them, they did it to us. But we have to learn and grow from it and try to get better."
 
Giveaways on the first five possessions of the night created an instant 12-4 deficit. Then, a 16-3 scoring run to open second half grew the home lead to 53-29, with the 24-point advantage the biggest of the evening. The Panthers would claw back to within 11 with a late charge, but no closer.
 
BJ Freeman led the way with 11 points, the only player to reach double-figures for the visitors. Markeith Browning II had nine points and seven rebounds, while both Jalen Johnson and Zach Howell finished with eight points.
 
Jaren Holmes paced the Cyclones with a game-high 19 points.
 
Milwaukee committed 27 turnovers on the night, seeing the Cyclones turn that into a 27-8 advantage in points off those mistakes. The marked the highest total since setting the unwelcome school record with 31 turnovers against Western Michigan way back in 1997.
 
There was no give-up though, with the MKE offense using a late 11-0 spree – which included a pair of 3's from Keon Edwards – to get back within 62-51 on a Howell triple with just over four minutes left. ISU took the punch and had a response next, using a pair of baskets including a reverse ally-oop on a press-break that essentially put the game away.
 
"It's kind of what we will do," Lundy said of the late push. "We will have to wear people down, but we have to be closer than 20 points down for what we do to work. But I thought Iowa State got tired. I thought we got into their legs pretty good at the end, we just need to be closer in striking distance. But we got contributions from a lot of guys, we are learning about ourselves, and the coaches are learning about these guys – all positives from this night."
 
The early turnovers were a killer. The Panthers committed miscues on those initial five possessions and had to call a timeout down 8-0 just 1:28 into the contest.
 
The early advantage for the Cyclones grew to 12-4, but a nice run had Milwaukee right back in it at 22-17 when Johnson split a pair of free throws at the 8:49 mark.
 
Unfortunately the mistakes kept piling up, reaching 15 at the break. That turned the deficit into double figures for a bit, settling at 11 at the break at 37-26.
 
MKE actually outshot Iowa State on the night, 39.5 percent (17-of-43) to 38.8 percent (26-of-67) from the field.
 
Up next, it will be a busy holiday week for the team, hosting St. Thomas Wednesday before welcoming three teams to town for the "Cream City Classic" -Nov. 26-28 at the Klotsche Center.