MILWAUKEE – Elijah Jamison had a game-high 19 points off the bench and the Milwaukee men's basketball team put up 54 points in the second half to pull away from North Park in claiming a 92-63 victory Sunday afternoon at UWM Panther Arena.
 
"First off, I give North Park a lot of credit," head coach Bart Lundy said. "I tried to impress on the team how scrappy and tough they were. I told Coach Sean (North Park head coach Sean Smith) before the game how impressed I was with his team. They are going to win a ton of games in their league."
 
The Panthers (8-4) used a 23-5 scoring run to start the second half to put the game away against the Vikings (7-1), who trailed by just one at the break following a first half that featured seven ties and seven lead changes.
 
"They jumped out 9-0 and we had to try and regroup," Lundy said. "It was a dogfight the whole first half. I thought we came out in the second half with way better energy and way more respect for our opponent. Ahmad's (Rand) dunks and Keon's (Edwards) offensive rebounds and 3's really broke it open and then we had really good contributions from a lot of guys. This team keeps having different guys step up for them."
 
At 8-4 overall, Milwaukee is off to its best 12-game start since 2015-16. The 7-1 ledger at home is the best start to a season on the home court since opening 2011-12 with a 10-1 mark in home games.
 
Jamison topped his previous best of 16 points, finishing with the 19 on a very efficient night. He hit 5-of-7 field goals overall, including all four of his three-point attempts, while adding a 5-of-6 showing from the line. He added six assists and four rebounds.
 
Keon Edwards also came through with his best performance of the season, finishing with 15 points and four rebounds, making 5-of-8 from the floor. He was also key to the second-half run that put the game away, scoring 13 of his points during that 23-5 spree.
 
Markeith Browning II chipped in 12 points and six rebounds, while Jalen Johnson was also in double-figures with 11 as he inches closer to the 1,000^th point of his collegiate career (now at 985).
 
Ahmad Rand added six points and led the team with seven rebounds and three blocks. His block/fastbreak dunk/putback dunk all within the first 35 seconds of the start of the second half ignited the MKE run.
 
Jordan Boyd paced North Park with 14 points and nine rebounds.
 
The start of the contest was not to the crowd's liking, as the Panthers found themselves down 9-0 early, forcing a Lundy timeout.
 
The stop righted the ship immediately and a 17-2 scoring run followed, taking a 17-11 lead on a Browning layup at the 11:23 mark of the first. It was back-and-forth from there to the halftime horn, with Justin Thomas putting Milwaukee ahead for good at 38-37 with a pair of free throws with 0.1 on the clock.
 
Milwaukee finished the night at 47.6 percent (30-of-63) from the floor, making eight 3's while going 24-of-32 (.750) from the free-throw line. The defense held the opposition below 40 percent once again, limiting the Vikings to just 37.5 percent (21-of-56) from the floor.
 
The Panthers held a huge 47-33 rebounding edge and a 42-28 advantage in the paint. It was yet another big scoring effort from the bench, who finished with the 58-25 advantage against NP.
 
Up next, the Panthers will be off for 11 days before starting a five-game road trip to close out 2022 and open 2023. Up next, a trip out east to battle Rhode Island, set for Dec. 22, tipping off at 6 p.m. CST.