YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Milwaukee men's basketball team got off to a tough start and could never find its way back, falling to Youngstown State Thursday night at the Beeghly Center.
 
The Panthers (18-9, 12-5 Horizon league) never had their comeback hopes materialize, falling to the Penguins (21-7, 13-4 Horizon League) in front of their biggest crowd of the year – a near sell-out crowd of 4,425 – in a late-season battle between two teams that came into the night tied for first place in the Horizon League standings.
 
"They were just tougher tonight," head coach Bart Lundy said. "They were making tough shots and we were missing some easy ones and I thought we panicked. It's my fault, I have to prepare us better for an environment like this."
 
Milwaukee trailed by 13 at the break and couldn't turn the game, seeing YSU net eight of the first 11 points of the second half and then continue to build from there, closing out in a final scoreline of 87-58.
 
"We have had a lot of turnover with our injuries and getting them into the right spots for those presses was a challenge," Lundy said. "And we never got the press really set because we weren't making shots. What it really boiled down to was that our live-ball turnovers [MKE had 17 total] killed us. They were in the middle of the floor and, combine that with 20-2 in transition, you can't win that way."
 
MKE was led by Elijah Jamison, who finished with 12 points. BJ Freeman was the only other Panther in double-figures, netting 10 to go along with three assists and a pair of rebounds.
 
The home team saw four players finish in double-figures and kept hitting big shot after big shot, also helped along by Panther miscues along the way. Adrian Nelson led the charge with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Dwayne Cohill added 18 and Malek Green contributed a double-double of 12 points and 10 boards.
 
The Panthers did not help themselves, committing 17 turnovers that were turned into a 32-6 advantage in points off turnovers. The Penguins also finished with substantial margins of 20-2 in fastbreak points and 17-10 in second-chance scoring.
 
The Penguins shot 43.8 percent (32-of-73) from the floor overall but slowly kept building their lead. It hit 15 for the first time at 48-33 and was 20 with 14 minutes to play. Every MKE push was met with an immediate response, as YSU played one of its best games of the season.
 
The Panthers finished at 40.7 percent (22-of-54) from the floor overall, making just 15.8 percent (3-of-19) of shots from long range.
 
Youngstown State led from start to finish, quickly building a lead to 10, scoring nine of the first 11 points of the night on the way to leading by double-figures for the first time at 21-11. A slam dunk by Ahmad Rand was part of a push that got the deficit back to 23-16 but the 'Guins continued to hit shots, building their advantage to 38-25 before settling in for a 46-33 lead at the break.
 
Up next, the Panthers wrap up the final road trip of the regular season with a stop at Robert Morris Saturday. Tip time against the Colonials is set for 6 p.m. CST.