MILWAUKEE – BJ Freeman scored 20 points and
Markeith Browning II added a career-high 19 points to help pace an impressive comeback effort, but Wright State outlasted the Milwaukee men's basketball team by a final score of 78-74 in overtime Saturday night at UWM Panther Arena.
The Panthers (12-6, 6-2 Horizon League) erased a 16-point deficit over the final 10 minutes of the second half to force overtime, only to see the Raiders (11-8, 4-4 Horizon League) escape with the win, handing MKE just its second loss at home this season while snapping what was a four-game winning streak.
"I just didn't think that we were ourselves … we weren't us for 30 minutes," head coach
Bart Lundy said. "We weren't tough. We weren't defending with the intensity that got us where we are. For whatever reason … we weren't sharing the ball and we weren't playing good basketball. And credit to Wright State, they packed it in, they were tough on the ball."
Freeman just missed a double-double, adding a team-high nine rebounds to his team-high 20 points. Browning II played a key role in the comeback effort, adding seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals to his career-best 19 points.
Moses Bol was huge off the bench, scoring seven points, grabbing seven rebounds, and blocking a pair of shots in a season-high 21 minutes of playing time.
Elijah Jamison also chipped in 10 points.
"I thought when we started pressing them, we got a little bit better, loosened up, and went on a big run," Lundy said. "So I was happy about the heart that we showed. But we have to play more together. We have to play more intensely coming out of the gate. We had some really good looks at the end, I thought a couple of those were going in to win it."
Trey Calvin and Brandon Noel each scored 23 points to lead the visitors. With Noel coming up a rebound short (9) of what would have been a fifth double-double in a row. Calvin came up huge late, scoring the first eight points of overtime for WSU, including putting the visitors up 77-74 on a step-back jumper with 1:27 to play.
"In overtime, give Calvin credit," Lundy said. "He made tough shot after tough shot. They were highly contested and he made four of them. Credit to Wright State and now we will see if we can handle some adversity."
Milwaukee then missed an opportunity to tie next but did force a miss on the ensuing Raider possession, only to see Wright State grab the big offensive board and then sink 1-of-2 free throws with 16 seconds left to seal it.
"We have two tough teams coming in next week, can we right the ship?" Lundy said. "We have handled success okay, now can we handle some adversity."
The Panthers came out flat to open the game, having a hard time hitting shots in falling behind 9-3. A Bol three-point play made it a one-point affair at 12-11 and a layup by
Justin Thomas had it back even at 15-15.
WSU then scored eight of the next 10 to grab momentum back. MKE had an answer and it was Bol again, with his putback tying the game at 26-26 before another deadlock at the break at 32-all.
The Panthers did grab an early second-half lead, forging ahead, 37-34, on a Jamison three-pointer. From there a huge Raider scoring run essentially decided the contest. They eventually used a spree of 20-1 to lead 56-40 and grew their advantage to as many as 16 at 51-45 with 10:26 to go before the Panthers started their great comeback.
The tough shooting lasted the duration of the night, with MKE finishing at 34.2 percent (26-of-76) for the outing, including 24.1 percent (7-of-29) from distance. WSU checked in at 43.5 percent (30-of-69) overall and were held to 21.4 percent (6-of-28) on 3's. MKE won the rebounding battle, 49-41, while points in the paint were even at 38.
Up next, the Panthers stay at home and welcome Robert Morris downtown next Thursday, set for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
